Wonderful Moments in Our Wonderful Life
by Infamousplot
Summary: Everything has ups and downs. One day you're on top of the world, the next, you're at the bottom of the heap. Still, through good and through bad, it truly is a wonderful life. Series of mostly unrelated drabbles, various genres; Josh, Neku and Mr. H-centric. 12th Prompt: "Bad Signal". In which Josh can't find a cell signal, and Neku "happily" helps him.
1. The Otter Incident

**'Lright... I keep getting TWEWY ideas. But my attention span is not long enough to write them out. I have some crap lying around, so I'ma post it up in drabbles (and write some over the summer, too~ In my free time ._. When I'm not doing homework... Or going through my FFN Summer Reading List- I WILL READ YOUR STUFF PoC!).**

**Anyway, these prompts are from prompt generators or the standard 100 Theme Challenge you find on teh interwebs.  
**

**I do not own TWEWY or anything affiliated to it :/ I do not own the prompt, either... Fear and I own the peacock idea though, and we came up with the Cuteness Proximity thing on our own (not the name, but this use of it ;3 YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN DANGIT).  
**

* * *

**Characters:** Neku, Joshua (Beat, Eri, Rhyme, Shiki)

**Prompt: **_"After the incident with the otters was resolved I felt a lot better."_

* * *

Neku would never forget the incident with the otters.

Shibuya doesn't have a zoo. It's just a district in Tokyo (alright, a pretty important district in Tokyo, as far as the celestial underworld was concerned), and there wasn't much natural life in the cramped little corner of Tokyo. Unless you counted insects, pigeons, or the rare weed poking up through the sidewalk cracks. To a young and curious child seeking knowledge about the animal kingdom, Shibuya was _not_ the best place to grow up. Your best bet was the internet, or picture books from the library about the jungles of South America or the deserts of Australia.

To a not-so-young but still very-curious dead kid seeking knowledge on the kingdom of animalia, picture books and documentaries on Animal Planet simply would not cut it. Joshua was a picky kid. He'd spent most of his life (prior to the games) in the WildKat, pouring through Hanekoma's ratty old National Geographics, absorbing as much knowledge as humanly possible. He'd begged his parents to take him to the zoo, but every time they'd promised they would, "something came up" or they "weren't feeling well", and it was back to looking up pictures of peacocks on the interwebs.

When Hanekoma suspended Joshua's powers, everyone's worlds had been turned upside down- Joshua not excluded. Making the best of being virtually powerless was not an easy thing to do. However, non-Composers were allowed to leave their districts- because, technically, they didn't _have_ districts to begin with.

After Josh had finished his preliminary "I Lost My Powers Unlife SUCKS NAO" moping, this realization struck him like a frying pan to the face. A rather good analogy, considering that very day Neku _had_ struck him with a frying pan, in the face. Because apparently, climbing through windows and lying on someone's bed waiting for them to get home without permission is considered "breaking and entering", "illegal", and is something only done by people with "Stalkerish Tendencies". Or something like that.

Anyway, back to the otter incident.

Neku had been to a zoo once, maybe twice in his life. His mom had pictures from when he was a baby, before dad had left. He didn't remember much. Apparently some giraffe had bitten the hat right off his head and made him cry. His mom even had pictures to prove it. Shiki and Eri had pulled them out one time while they were over, and they had fawned all over them. He'd made sure to burn all baby pictures of himself, because when he wasn't home, certain Composers liked to creep through his stuff. And his mother had no qualms about him. He loved the woman, but some days, she drove him up the wall.

ANYWAY, back to the animals. Animals were pretty cute. N-Not that Neku _liked_ cute things. That was unmanly. And Neku was the living, breathing _epitome_ of manliness, and he refused to let anyone (especially Mr. Pink and Frilly himself) tell him otherwise.

So, when Mr. Pink and Frilly came barging into the Ramen Don with pamphlets for the zoo in Ueno, demanding that all six of them go _immediately_, Neku was hesitant to agree.

"Zoos are crowded, dude." Beat had pointed out, slurping up ramen rather noisily. "Tons of snot-nosed brats yellin' and cryin'. Plus, it smells like shit."

"But Beat! We could see all the cute little monkeys..." Shiki squeed softly, looking at Neku with those huge, shiny, adorable eyes. He could feel his defenses weakening already. Monkeys were cute... Monkeys were _really_ cute...

"Come on guys. The trip isn't even that long." Joshua thrust a pamphlet into Neku's face. "They've got tigers, and bears, and an elephant. And, most importantly, they have peacocks." Joshua's smug little smirk warped for a moment, widening into a genuine smile.

"What's so great about peacocks?" Beat scoffed. Joshua shot him a look so nasty, it would have disintegrated weaker men. Luckily, Beat and Neku were used to Joshua by now, and the fact that he had no powers (or physical strength whatsoever) diminished his intimidation factor by... Well, a lot.

"Peacocks are fabulous birds." He huffed, practically turning his nose up in disdain. "They're colorful, they're beautiful, they're elegant... They're my favorite animal." He added the last part rather quickly, his voice quiet. For a moment he seemed almost excited. Who would have thought the prospect of getting to see peacocks would make Joshua _excited_?

The group squabbled for a bit. Mostly, it was Beat who was against the trip. Eri was on the fence, since she loved the animals, but didn't want to waste the money on bus fair or an entry fee.

"Plus, snacks... And We'll probably want to get souveneirs... Oh! And we'd have to go to the petting zoo, so we'd need to buy food for all the goats. Ug... Way too expensive." Eri huffed, crossing her arms.

"I think it'd be fun." Rhyme smiled. "It's the first week of Summer. Let's make the most of it while we still can, right? Before _somebody_ remembers their homework assignments?" She looked at Beat expectantly, and all the color drained from his face.

"U-Uhm, y-y'know what guys? Rhyme and pretty boy are right." He laughed nervously, gulping the rest of his ramen and standing up dramatically (toppling most of their ramen in the process). "Let's go to the zoo!" He pointed up dramatically.

"Keep it down!" Ken cawed from across the room.

That was how they'd ended up at the zoo. After scraping together all that they owned, taking a crowded subway to Ueno, and wandering the streets until they reached their destination... Well, they'd reached their destination. Thus, all Hell broke loose.

Eri and Shiki took off immediately to go see the petting zoo, and Rhyme vanished, which caused Beat to flip the fuck out. He found her by the elephant a few minutes later, but forgot to yell at her when he saw how happy she looked. Neku couldn't help smiling. Rhyme was leaning over the fence, staring at the elephant with her eyes the size of dinner platters, an enormous grin plastered on her face.

"I knew they were big... But I never knew they were _this_ big!" She breathed, looking up at her brother with amazement. Even Beat seemed awed by the beast. It flapped its giant ears at the three of them. Neku swore he saw it wink.

"Do you know where the monkey exhibit is?" He asked, as nonchalantly as possible. After hearing about the cute little monkeys, he hadn't been able to get them out of his mind. If only Shiki hadn't disappeared with Eri... It would have been fun to go and see them with her. With all the squeeing she'd do, he wouldn't feel compelled to do it instead.

N-Not that he _would_! Damn Cuteness Proximity!

Beat pulled out their designated pamphlet, which had a map, and opened his mouth to answer Neku's Monkey Question, when Neku was abruptly kidnapped.

"Come with me~" Joshua linked his arm in Neku's, dragging him away.

"Beat! Save me!" Neku crowed, flailing his free arm back at his blond friends. Rhyme smiled sadly after him.

"It was nice knowing you Phones!" Beat called after him. Neku made a mental note to murder Beat's skateboard next time he had the chance.

"Oh hush." Joshua scoffed, dragging Neku through the crowds. "What do you think I'm going to do?"

"Take me to your lair and do unspeakable yaoi-related things to me?"

"Close. We're going to see the peacocks." Joshua smirked.

"_Oooh._ That was my third guess." Neku shrugged. Joshua raised an eyebrow.

"And what, pray I ask, was your second?"

"That you were going to eat me."

"Har har. You should be a comedian." Joshua rolled his eyes, craning his neck so that he could see through the crowd. "Ug. It's so much harder navigating in the RG." He sighed, pushing a lock of hair behind his ear. "And it's so hot out..."

"It was your idea to come to the zoo." Neku reminded him, pulling his arm out from Joshua's grip. His arm was bony. Not as bony as Neku's arm -let's face it, nobody had bonier arms than Neku, with the possible exception of Eri, who looked like a walking eating disorder -but still, not very comfortable to have latched around your own arms. Especially not when it was this freaking hot out. The air was heavy with humidity, downright oppressing.

"I think it's this way." Joshua said suddenly, taking off. He vanished into the crowd, and Neku swore, fighting his way through the throngs of people after him. Luckily for Neku, Joshua had the speed of a tortoise on Zzzquil, and finding the fluffy-haired boy was not very difficult.

"Are you trying to get me lost?" Neku scowled, coming up behind him. Joshua was leaning over the iron bars of a fence. He didn't seem to notice Neku's presence. "Are you even listening to me?" Huffing, he looked down into the enclosure-

And almost died.

Otters. Adorable, fluffy, _baby otters_. The man that Neku wished he could be flipped his middle fingers to the world and ran away into the deepest recesses of Neku's mind, and Neku leaned over the fence, staring down at the too-cute-to-be-real animals with eyes a'sparkling. It was all he could do not to let out a Shiki-worthy "Squeeeee!"

Let it be known that Neku took great pride in being stoic. He may have learned about the Magic of Friendship, and he may have been more smiley now, but he was still the hardcore child of the streets he used to be. And dammit, he was practically a man. He spent just about every moment that he was with Josh commenting on how frilly and girly and disgraceful he was to the male race. So how awful would it be if, by chance, Neku happened to have a weakness?

Neku... Liked cute things. Chibis, kittens, bunnies, puppies, chibis of kittens, puppies and bunnies, those cute little keychains and baubles you could buy in Otaku Stores, ponies... You name it. It was a curse. Ever since he was young, he'd had the inexplicable urge to say "Awww" and cuddle cute things. Unfortunately, that was not a very dude-like thing to do. Thus, Neku hid his love. He stopped drawing chibis and cute things at school and focused on MANRY things. Like monster trucks, and robots, and dinosaurs. And robotic dinosaurs riding monster trucks while battling sharks with lasers. Yeah.

Back to the main point, Neku spent a great deal of time mocking Josh for liking things quite similar to what he himself liked. If Josh were ever to know, he would never let him live it down (and Josh already had enough over him). He would call him a hypocrite. He would tell Beat, and Beat might disown him as his Man Friend, and then Shiki and Eri would kidnap him and take him on shopping trips to look at cute clothes (he liked cute _things_- NOT cute clothes!) and never release him from their girly clutches. Ever. Or, you know, something like that.

So, basically, to get back to where we were, Neku was trying very hard not to flip the fuck out. Because oh my god, look at the baby otters. They're so cute! They've got those big noses, and they're flipping around and playing with each other and- AWWWWWW that one has a little squeaky toy! Aren't they so cute? Aren't they, aren't they?

...

Fucking Cuteness Proximity.

Luckily for Neku, not a single word of this escaped his mind. It wanted to, but he was a master at holding this sort of thing inside.

"Aren't they cute?" Joshua smiled- actually _smiled_, as in, not a smirk or a maniacal grin -and Neku managed to peel his gaze away from the adorable fluffy creatures.

"What? Erm, I guess." Nice save, Neku.

"I've never seen one in real life." Josh leaned back over the fence, watching the cute little things swim about with a look of rapture in his eyes. "I used to read about them, in the National Geographic." Josh looked up at Neku, his smile looking a little nervous. "That's how I found out about peacocks. That, and Animal Planet." He giggled, still sounding a bit off.

"What's the deal with you and peacocks?" Neku asked, relieved to change the topic from the otters to, well, anything else. Joshua's gaze returned to the otters, and the nervousness left his smile, bliss replacing it.

"Have you ever seen a peahen?" He asked. Neku nodded. "They're rather ugly, aren't they? Dumpy brown color, nowhere near as beautiful as the male bird." Joshua then looked up at the sky. A few pigeons passed overhead. "That's not how it is with humans. You see girls, and they dress up all gorgeous, and guys are allowed to dress down and look like slobs. If a girl dresses all dumpy, guys won't like her. If a guy tries to dress pretty or even slightly feminine, then other guys will beat him up." Joshua huffed, his smile fading. He looked at Neku with a seriousness in his eyes that made Neku nod in agreement. He knew exactly what he was talking about. Like with the cute thing. Guys and girls seemed to be divided into two categories, and anyone who overstepped their bounds was ostracized.

"That's not how it is with birds though." Joshua's smile returned. "Female birds are never as colorful as the male. They're always brown, or have duller colors. Male birds have crazy feathers, bright colors, and put on these weird shows to impress the girls. It's how they attract their mates. They put on these elaborate shows, for these dumpy little females that everyone thinks are boring..." He looked at Neku with his smile wide. "It's amazing. It's so opposite from us."

Neku stared at him, not sure what to say. It was one of the strangest things Josh had ever said to him, but it hit home. So he nodded, because once again, Joshua had him at a loss for words.

Joshua's mouth became a line, the edges not poking up or down. "Every time I saw a picture of a peacock, or even thought about them... I'd just feel a little more normal. Like... If these beautiful birds that everyone loves can be flamboyant and colorful and not be judged for it, then why not me?" He stared down at the water, the line of his mouth tight. The look on his face told Neku he'd said too much. Joshua didn't talk about himself much, and when he did it was always trivial things. Now that Neku thought about it, he hadn't said an incredible amount about himself now, but even in those few things he'd mentioned, Neku had managed to pick up a lot.

Josh's eyes were glued to the otters now.

"I say we steal one and take it home." He announced, loudly enough to get a few stares from others -and to change the subject.

"Quiet. Do you want to get kicked out?" Neku growled. Josh giggled.

"Don't be such a downer, Neku. It was just a joke." He smirked. "Seriously though, look at them. Don't you just want to scoop one up and keep it?" They both leaned back over the fence. One of the littlest otters looked back up at Neku, and made the strangest yet most adorable sound he'd ever heard.

"Yeah," Neku admitted, a smiling tugging at his lips. "I bet they'd make fun pets." The little otter swam over to the edge, putting its little paws against the side and staring up at him. Neku waved a little, and Josh giggled.

"I think it likes you." Joshua teased. Neku ignored him. Maybe he could go and buy a stuffed otter toy at the gift shop... Or, he could get one for Shiki. She would love that-

"PHONES!" Beat's voice exploded right behind him, accompanied by a sharp smack on the back. With a demonic shriek, Neku launched forward, flipping over the rail and sailing down.

He landed with a splash, which was accompanied by the horrified squeals of the otters and children up above.

"Holy shit-" Beat was leaning over the rail, a mixture of guilt, shock, and amusement in his eyes. Joshua was doubled over, laughing hysterically. Neku could just make out the top of Rhyme's hat as she ran off, shouting for someone to get help.

One of the otters swam over, sniffing him curiously. He sneezed, and it took off, practically flying back into its little hut.

"Neku?" Neku looked up. Shiki and Eri were at the other side of the fence now, staring at him in embarrassment. Neku stood up, sneezing again. Great. Now he was soaked to the bone.

"Quick Neku, now's your chance!" Josh called between laughter. "Grab one and run!" He choked, his giggles seizing him again. Beat nudged him hard with his elbow, trying to hide his own smile. Neku recited every swear and curse he knew in his mind. He wasn't sure if he should unleash it on Beat or Josh. Rhyme came rushing back over, panting.

"They're getting a ladder!" She called. "Just hold on, okay?" Neku nodded, shivering. His clothes were damp, and even in this humid weather, it sent a chill down his spine.

"Looks like we'll need to get you a new shirt from the gift shop." Joshua smirked, his laughter having finally died down.

"Someone is going to die when I get back up there." Neku growled, standing impatiently near the wall.

An otter came up to his leg and sniffed it. Then it peed. Neku unleashed his rotten vocabulary then, and all were powerless to stop him.

They did eventually get Neku out of the otter habitat. It involved a rope ladder, fish, and a very pissed Neku. They didn't have enough money left to get him new clothes, so he rode home damp (he made sure to sit right in between Josh and Beat, so their clothes would get wet too). A few people who worked at the zoo had apparently overheard his and Josh's "plan" to kidnap one of the otters, and after his little dive into the habitat... Well, let's just say that the Otter Incident (which it would forever be known as) ended with Neku, Beat and Josh getting group banned from the zoo. For eternity. Or possibly longer.

The next morning, when Neku got up, he found a little otter plush sitting on his doorstep. He wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry. There was a little note tied around its neck, in familiar, curvy writing.

_Since we couldn't get a real one, figured this would have to do._

_ Let's go for the monkeys next time._

_ ;)_

Neku rolled his eyes, a small smile playing off his lips.

"You're all weirdos." He said, to no one in particular, as he placed the otter on his desk. It sat like a little sentry, though he doubted it would keep any unwanted visitors out of his room. Absent-mindedly, he pet it, then went to go make (raid the fridge for) his breakfast.

Maybe his friends were weirdos. He didn't really mind though.

* * *

**The others probably won't be nearly this long...**

**Fear and I decided that because of the Neku Incident (AKA TWEWY) and Joshua's general douchebaggery, Mr. H and the Angels decided it would be best for Shibuya if the Composer took a break. Ergo, Joshua is grounded :D They suspended his powers (cuz they're Angels and they can do crazy crap like that) and have a temporary stand-in, which you'll probably hear about later. Until Joshua can learn about the Magic of Friendship and see the error of his ways, he has to live as a normal dead kid. Mr. H thinks it'll be good for him, to get out of the sewer and hang out with Neku and the others and stop being a homicidal sociopath for awhile.  
**

**This takes place awhile after Joshua had started to integrate himself with Neku and co. When he first showed up Neku flipped out, and they went through some of the angsty/raeg process. Which you will get more of. Eventually. :D  
**


	2. Can You Hear Me?

**Thank you for teh reviews~ And thank you Fear for reading this :) Another drabble inspired by fear- some of our Joshua and Sho fanon. Please enjoy~ **

**PRE-TWEWY. Contains Reaper Josh.  
**

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**Characters:** Sho, Joshua

**Prompt:** "_Can You See Me?"_

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"Please show me what to do!"

Sho remembered the desperate look on the Wall Reaper's face as he'd clung to his pant leg, eyes huge and wavering. His face was supposed to be covered, but he'd shed his hood and bandana. Sho'd tried to kick him off and tell him to get lost, but the kid clung like a burr.

"Please! I'm scared. I don't _want_ to get erased!" He'd choked, sounding so miserable and helpless that Sho couldn't bring himself to turn away. Helping other Reapers wasn't something he liked to do. Getting involved meant putting your own life on the line, and when you did that, you put everything else there too- your ambitions, your dreams.

He was just a kid. Too green to be a threat, to whimpy to take care of himself. Only a heartless hectopascal would leave him like that... Right?

x x x

He learned fast.

Joshua- that was his name, or at least, what he insisted Sho call him -learned the ropes in record time. Everything Sho showed him how to do, he seemed to pick up immediately. There were struggles, of course. The kid couldn't fly straight to save his unlife, and landing was pretty much impossible. He couldn't run very fast, either. After about a block he was winded. Catching Players was one of the struggles, which was unfortunate, considering it was the one skill he truly _needed_ in order to keep from getting erased.

It wasn't his problem if he got erased, of course. Sure he was just a kid, and sure he was still wet around the ears, but one could only walk out so far on a limb before it got too shaky and they had to turn back. Maybe the kid was cute, and maybe he meant no harm, but Sho couldn't afford to take any risks.

"Sho, I feel sort of funny."

"What do you mean, 'funny'?"

"Faint. Dull. Just... Weird."

"When was the last time you erased a Player?"

"Sometime last week."

"Factor it, Joshua..."

x x x

They'd herded them. Like sheep. Sho chased them in, Joshua erased them. The looks on their faces was awful, yet a sick part of him sort of enjoyed it. He wondered if Joshua felt the same.

It took a lot of energy. They each got one Player at a time, instead of two. It would be easier, he thought, to do it on his own. Joshua wasn't his responsibility. If you subtracted the fact that he'd taken him under his figurative _and_ literal wing, and had, for all intensive purposes, pretty much adopted the kid, then he really had no reason to waste his time helping him.

Not the best argument, but still.

"We make a pretty good team, huh?" Joshua had giggled once, after a long day of chasing Players around and trying to save Joshua's arse. As he continued walking, Sho had stood there and stared after him. A team. He hadn't been a part of a team in a long time.

x x x

"I want to become a Game Master someday."

No Reaper was content with where they were. Well, except Kariya. But he was a freak. Sho despised people without goals. Goals were what kept you moving, they were what drove you. Everyone needed an ambition, a reason to keep erasing Players and climbing up the ranks.

"A GM? For real?" Sho had laughed, and Joshua's face had gone all cross.

"What's wrong with that?" He'd huffed, crossing his arms, a tint of color in his cheeks. Sho smirked, shaking his head wryly.

"Nothing. It's a nice dream, I guess." Not nearly as fabulous as his own, though. You didn't get far with small dreams. You had to think big.

"I'm not going to stop until I've reached the top." Sho grinned, flopping back on his bed and staring at the ceiling. "This world is garbage. I'm going to make a master piece out of it." He laughed aloud at the thought.

His dream, his ambition... To become the Composer. It was the thought that pushed him through every day, the reason he worked so diligently. The higher he got, the closer he'd get to the Composer, and the easier it would be to stab him in the back.

Reapers didn't work together often. When they did, it usually ended with one stabbing the other in the back. No one was happy with second flute. Everyone wanted to get to the top. Trusting others meant leaving your back wide open for them to shove a dagger into.

Joshua was a little Reaper. A little reaper with little dreams. Sho had found he wasn't afraid to tell him about his aspirations, about his plans. He was going far, and Joshua was perfectly content stopping halfway.

x x x

"The Conductor was erased."

Sho stood with the other Harriers, his mind blank. Someone had offed the Conductor?

"What?" Joshua cried, looking stricken. His pale face looked paler. Sho grimaced.

"Great. Just great." Sho didn't care for the Conductor. He'd hardly known him. What he did know, though, was that now, the Composer and whoever they chose as their new minion would be keeping a close eye on all Reapers. Which meant that getting promoted would be even harder than usual.

"I suppose the Composer will be selecting a new Conductor then?" Megumi smirked, looking knowingly at Sho. Sho ignored him. Megumi had been a Harrier far longer than Sho had been around. It was doubtless that he'd figured out Sho's goals by now.

"Who do you think he'll pick?" Kariya asked boredly.

"We all know you're the best candidate, Lollipop." The beautiful blonde newbling huffed, her voice like ice. Sho hadn't seen her around before. Her wings were rather small. Looked pretty green to him, but pretty zetta attractive. She had a nice get-up, too.

"They erased him?" Joshua asked quietly, tugging on Sho's sleeve and interrupting his train of thought. His violet eyes were huge, full of more emotions than Sho could read. Sho shrugged, ruffling his fluffy hair.

"It happens." Joshua didn't seem comforted by this. "Just be happy it's not you." He added, with a smile that felt forced. Joshua nodded, but he didn't look convinced.

All Sho could think about was who the next Conductor would be. He had to fight not to whine like a hungry dog. He could practically see his goal, hovering right there in front of him, ready to drop... But he didn't know where it would fall.

x x x

"Kiryu Yoshiya."

The crowd exploded in outrage and sarcastic applause as the Composer called out the name. Sho felt numb.

"What?"

"_Him?_"

"He's not even a high ranking Harrier!"

Complaints flew from the other Reapers as Sho's fluffy-haired protege made his way up, not stopping until he stood before the Composer.

"My liege." He bowed, taking one knee. Sho felt sick.

How?

_How?_

x x x

"Why on earth would he pick you?" Sho screamed, not even trying to hide his rage. Joshua smirked at him, a smirk so smug and arrogant it seemed alien on his face.

"Don't act so surprised, Sho-_kun_." He laughed, eyes narrowed. "The Composer and I are _very_ close. I'd be more surprised if he _didn't_ pick me." His voice was so haughty, so arrogant. Sho grit his teeth. Where the factor had this kid come from? This snide little hectopascal? Sho had never seen this side of him before.

"It's a shame the Condcutor had to go," Joshua sighed airily, shaking his head in mock sympathy. "Well, you know what they say. All's fair in love and war. You just can't trust Reapers nowadays, can you?" He clucked his tongue, watching Sho through narrowed eyes. Sho felt the rising urge to punch him in the face.

Sho felt numb. He felt like an idiot. It all made sense now.

Joshua wasn't a clueless little kid. He'd known exactly what he was doing, the whole time. He'd never wanted to be Game Master. He'd just wanted someone dumb enough to believe he did.

He'd _used_ him. Pretended to be scared and clueless, put on a cute face. It was all an act though. An act Sho had fallen for. All this time, Joshua had been running around behind his back, sucking up to the Composer and the Conductor. getting close to them, gaining their trust, waiting for just the right moment to plan his move.

"That look on your face... Aw, how sweet." Joshua laughed, a pitying smirk spreading across his own face. "You _cared_. You really _cared._" Joshua's smirk widened into a grin, and his laughter increased. "That's cute Sho. Really. Completely unnecessary, as I'm sure you see now, but thanks for the thought." He flashed an icy grin at Sho, and turned away. "It was nice working with you, Pi-face."

That liar. That smug, two-faced radian! He'd strung him along, played him like a fiddle, and he'd just let him do it. He never should have trusted him. Never should have told him anything!

"Oh." Joshua stopped, suddenly, standing with his back to Sho and his hands in his pockets. "It seems that you won't be getting any closer to becoming Composer now, Sho." He turned his head as a hot, prickle of rage ran down Sho's spine. His grin reappeared. "Shame, isn't it?"

Sho let out a murderous scream as he launched himself at the smug, pompous, factoring little son of a digit-

x x x

"I really don't have time for you right now, Sho." That awful smirk wasn't even there. His voice was cold. "You're wasting your time, and more importantly, mine."

"Shut up and fight me, hectopascal!" Sho screamed, Taboo energy rippling through him. "Unless you're too scared?" He laughed, and once he'd started, he found he couldn't stop. Is this what it felt like to be Composer? To have so much power, without any limit? If it was... Well, he never wanted it to stop.

"Leave." Joshua snarled, holding up his phone.

"Hah! I'm not afraid of your little cellphone now, Yoshi!" Sho grinned, his wings shooting out of his back. All six, huge and magnificent, like beautiful, black skeletons. Six. Beat _that_, Kiryu.

Joshua's eyes narrowed, and Sho's grin widened. He would not roll over for that worthless hectopascal, that lying little digit. After all those years of looking down on him, never letting him get promoted, rubbing his mistake in his face... Sho would not back down. He could not _lose_, especially not to that lying, cheating, frilly, factoring hectopascal-

"Fine then. Have it your way." Joshua smiled coldly, pressing a button on his phone. Sho launched himself at him, ready to take his Noise form, ready to tear into him and rip him limb from limb-

Joshua began to float. His body exploded into a white light. Wings spread out from his shoulders, glowing so bright it nearly blinding him. He tried to shield his eyes, and he faltered, his blow falling short. Something hard and hot rammed into his gut, sending him sailing backwards. He crashed into the rubble, his head slamming against the side of a building, _hard._

Pain bloomed through him. He felt like he might puke. Fire was screaming through his body- the Taboo, trying to get out. He could feel it stretching up his arm, digging into his mind... Slowly suffocating his heart...

The Composer loomed over him, its face illuminated yet featureless. Sho felt a shiver run down his spine. He wanted to get up. He wanted to fight. He would not go out with a whimper, he would go out with a bang!

Somehow, a grin spread across the blank face. From the rubble nearby, a hunk of metal began to rattle, rising from the rest of the trash. A vending machine. It floated up, quivering in the air.

"Nice working with you, Minamimoto." The Composer giggled, and Sho felt sick. The vending machine became a streak of color as it screamed through the air, practically burning with speed as it came down at him-

x x x

_"We make a pretty good team, huh?"_

_"..."_

_"Well?"_

_"... Yeah. I guess we do."_

x x x

_"See me here in the air,_

_Not holding on to anywhere,_

_But holding, on so beware-_

_I have secrets I won't share._

_See me here pushing you,_

_If I then deny I do,_

_Contemplate or wish away-_

_If I ask you not to stay._

_Clowns that only let you know_

_Where you let your senses go_

_Clowns all around you,_

_It's a cross I need to bear._

_All this black and cruel despair,_

_This is an emergency._

_Don't you hide your eyes from me_

_Open them and see me now._

**_Can you see me now?_**

_**Can you see me now**?"_

_~"Clowns", T.A.T.U.  
_

* * *

__**Love that song. It does make me think of Joshua. The original prompt was "Can You hear Me?", but I changed it xD "Can You See Me" inspired me more :)  
**

**Poor Sho... I'm not sure how well I did writing for him. Fear and I tend to think he was more stable before the whole "Stab in the back, mock you for the rest of your unlife" think with Joshua. Then he lost it, and the Taboo thing did NOT help.  
**

**He didn't fade when he was hit with the vending machine. i think he's still alive. So he'll be okay. Eventually. Maybe? *hands band-aid to Sho*  
**


	3. Sacrifice

**Thank you for the reviews~ And thank you, AkaiChouNoKoe/No Longer Active, for the wonderful artwork of The Otter Incident (look up "Neku Otters" on DevArt if you want to see it- it's so cute x3).  
**

**Drabble from the standard 100 Theme Challenge. Takes place during TWEWY.  
**

* * *

**Characters:** Neku, Joshua (Sho)

**Prompt:** "_Sacrifice"_

* * *

Neku's feet slammed against the ground, and he skidded a few yards. Panting, he braced his hands on his knees, trying to get his breathing back to normal. Not that he really _needed_ to breathe, being dead and all, but his body hadn't seemed to realize that air was no longer important.

His head was swimming, memories stabbing his brain. _Joshua sprinting toward him, a wicked gleam in his eye, a gun aiming at him, the sear of a bullet ripping through his skin- and __**him**__._ The Grim Heaper, Sho, standing behind him with a gun in his hand. Sho had killed him. That had to be it. It didn't make any sense though. Why would Sho kill him? They hadn't even known each other. Why had he targeted him, of all people?

Pi-face was laughing. He began screaming numbers, blurring them together so fast Neku could hardly decipher them. He tried to stand up, but he couldn't get himself to move. He felt like jell-o, heavy and sluggish, his body swimming as he tried to think. Scenes flashed through his mind's eye and he couldn't figure out which to trust. None of it made sense, but no one was explaining anything!

Pi-face started rambling again, screaming about being victorious, and something about reverse-engineering. There was a blinding flash, and suddenly, the world began to vibrate all around them, like everything was being ripped apart. Neku looked around. Was is an earthquake? Was the building going to collapse?

Sho was laughing, energy and frequencies and all sorts of crazy shit emanating all around him. Neku could feel the air heating up, like a wave of fire was about to hit them.

"Watch out!" Joshua screamed above the rumble of the building and Sho's maniacal fit. "That's a level _i_ flare!" Yeah. Like he knew what that was. It didn't sound good though, and it didn't look any better. Neku saw it then, the fiery blast, building up and shooting past- no, shooting _through_ -Sho. It blasted straight through him, and he vanished, swallowed alive by the flames- which were now roaring toward them. _He wanted to take us out so bad he sacrificed himself?_ Neku felt his stomach flip. His life, and his unlife, began to fly through his mind. He'd never find out about his death. He'd never go home, never see his mom, never grow up... He'd never save Shiki. That put a lump in his throat. _Shiki..._ Of all the things he'd never ever do, that was what he regretted most. She was doomed now, all because of him.

"Nowhere to hide!" Neku shouted hoarsely above the roar of the flare as it launched at them. He closed his eyes and clamped his headphones over his ears, trying to block it all out, one last time.

A hand hit his chest and shoved him back roughly. Neku's eyes jerked open as he fell back, landing on his rump. Looking up, he saw Josh standing over him, back toward him, front to the flames. His mouth curled up into a smug little smirk. Neku's heart skipped an imaginary beat as he realized what was happening.

"I thought you couldn't afford to lose, Neku?" He giggled in that sarcastic, girly voice of his, except this time -for once -he was serious. He smirked, turning his head away and spreading his arms out wide. "Give up on yourself... And you give up on the world." Neku watched in a mixture of awe and horror as the flare charged toward them- no, toward _Josh-_ and swallowed him up. His silhouette faded into the blinding light as Neku tried to get to his feet, his hand reaching out to try and grab the back of his shirt or his belt or _something_, something to pull him back-

...

The light faded, and Neku fell forward, landing on his face as his vision began to refocus. The room was empty. The thoughts of everyone down in Shibuya poured in, rattling in his skull as he sat up, staring at the spot where Joshua had been standing just a second ago. There was nothing there now. No footprints, no ashes, not a single sign he'd ever been there.

_He didn't kill me..._ Neku felt his stomach churning. _He wasn't the one who killed me, it was that _bastard_!_ Neku gritted his teeth, closing his eyes. The memory played itself through his mind again, showing him Sho with his smoking gun, pointing it right at him, again and again and again...

_I blamed him._ Neku bit his lip, trying to ignore the gnawing feeling in his gut. He hadn't trusted Josh, when all along, Josh had been the one who'd tried to _protect_ him! Neku swore inwardly, and then aloud.

Joshua had sacrificed himself. For him. Even after he'd accused him of killing him... So much for trust your partner. Neku felt sick. Why would Joshua have done that? _To prove his innocence? _The sick feeling got worse. Why would someone who had killed him sacrifice themselves to make sure he survived?

A light started to fall down around him, and Neku looked up, watching as another hooded figure with skeletal wings descended.

"You again, huh?" The Reaper clucked its tongue disapprovingly. Neku raised an arm over his eyes to try and block out the light. "Well, you know what they say... Third time's the charm. Let's see if you can do it _right_ this time, eh?"

* * *

**And then Neku finds out that Joshua killed him and has been using him as a pawn the entire time, and is shot (again) by him. YAY TRUST AND FRIENDSHIP. As much as I love Joshua, I have to admit, he's a douchebag. Poooooor Nekun...**


	4. Heal

**More Neku angst :3 Don't worry, there'll be more humor. But with anything I write... There will be angst. ALWAYS.**

* * *

**Characters:** Neku (Shiki, Joshua, Beat, Rhyme)

**Prompt:** "_Heal"_

* * *

Healing was not something that happened instantly. It took time, and patience- something that Neku lacked.

'Time heals all wounds', and all that crap, he supposed. Cuts and scratches healed quickly, but bigger wounds- giant gashes, mauling and torture... Those took a lot longer to heal up. And then there were scars. Scars weren't like wounds. Scars didn't heal.

There were a lot of things that had happened to Neku that he would have liked to forget. Watching Nao and Sota get erased, for example. The utter emptiness he felt when Beat first lost Rhyme- not because he felt loss, but because he just didn't give a damn. To think back to that now, after all the time he'd spent with Rhyme, talking with her and laughing with her and just enjoying being with her... It made his heart ache, to remember how cold he'd once felt toward this wonderful young girl.

He wished, most of all, that he could forget what he'd done to Shiki. He'd almost _killed_ her, this girl who was now his best friend, the most important person in his life. When Uzuki had told him to erase her, he hadn't even thought about it. He'd just done it. He'd stopped himself, thank God, but he'd still tried to do it. He'd hurt her, _willingly-_ watched the tears welling up in her eyes as she struggled to breathe, whimpering as she tried to beg for her life. The fact that she forgave him so easily still weighed on his chest. Seeing her every day, hearing her laugh and seeing her smile, he sometimes remembered -unwillingly -that awful day where he'd nearly erased her.

What if he had? What if he hadn't stopped? Then what would have happened? Questions like that scared him. He was glad he didn't know. That didn't stop him from asking though. Didn't stop him from wondering.

He thought about that sort of stuff quite often. Couldn't help but dwell. Scars like that ran deep. They didn't disappear- they lasted, and lingered, and throbbed when you touched them too roughly.

The Game had been a traumatizing experience, one that would last him a lifetime. He couldn't go down to Dogenzaka anymore. Every time he saw one of CAT- no, _Hanekoma's_ -murals, he felt sick. He half expected Joshua to come sprinting down the street behind him with a gun and that awful, twisted look on his face.

He still had nightmares about it. That night, his death. Along with all the other things that haunted his dreams -trying to erase Shiki, fighting Sho or Noise, battling Megumi, waking up on that godforsaken crossway _again_ -a common nightmare was Joshua with his gun. Their stand off, and that cold, arrogant smirk on his face. The way he pulled the trigger, not even a shred mercy in his eyes. Just amusement. Cold, sick amusement. Neku hadn't realized you could feel pain in dreams. It wasn't as sharp or as real as it was when you were awake, but it was still pain, and fear was still fear. The fear of dying, of being erased, of the Nothingness that came after the Game...

Many a night he had jolted awake, hair plastered to his forehead with sweat, his cheeks wet and salty with tears. His heart would be trying to ease itself out of overdrive as he realized that it was only a dream, nothing more.

These scars that had been raked all through him would never heal. Reminders were constant, and everywhere. Seeing Joshua was hard, to put it mildly. He had to remind himself sometimes that he trusted him. Sometimes he had to remind himself why. He couldn't forgive him, not after everything he'd put him through. Seeing his face- sometimes only an hour or two after having woken up from a nightmare about him -and that awful smirk he'd sometimes wear could send a chill down his spine. Just being with his friends was enough to jolt his brain back to those three weeks he spent in Hell. They were the only good things he'd gotten out of that experience.

Well, that wasn't completely true... In fact, Neku had gained quite a lot out of the Game that wasn't _all_ bad.

He'd learned about friendship, and trust. He'd learned to listen to others, to respect their values, even if they didn't match his. He'd met people like Shiki and Beat, who had taught him things he'd never forget, and changed his life forever. He'd met someone whose life -or unlife, in this case -that he'd managed to change for the better.

He'd learned that the world was not all about him. After the Game, he wouldn't look at Shibuya the same way ever again. How could he? The world all around him was so huge, so full of marvelous and dangerous secrets... All that he'd learned about the UG, an entire freaking alternate dimension, hidden right under his nose, was only a small fraction of the rest of the wonders Shibuya (and the rest of the world, for that matter) had to offer him. The Game had showed him that he was wrong. The world did _not_ end with him, not by a long shot. Maybe he was just one speck in the human race, but that didn't mean he couldn't make a difference. He'd saved a city- so many innocent lives, now secured, all because he'd changed. Because he'd shown someone else how to change.

The Game had given him a chance to try again. It had showed him why life was so important, and had given him a reason to keep living it- it had given him something to fight for. A few somethings, actually. He had friends now. A few months ago, he never would have thought he would want to share his life with people again. Now, every day after school, he stood next to Hachiko, waiting for his _friends._ His best friends.

The Game had been hard. It had been scary, and tortuous, and it was an experience he never wanted to relive. It was a scar on his memory, a gaping gash he could never get rid of. As awful as it had been though, he knew he would never want to forget it, even if he could. Because despite the badness, and despite the pain, death had changed his life in ways he never could have imagined. It had given him people that cared about him, people that he cared about. Maybe the struggles he'd gone through couldn't be justified, but in Neku's mind, the pros outweighed the cons in the end.

He would never forgive Joshua for what he'd done to him. He couldn't. Joshua had tricked him. He'd lied to him, and used him as a pawn. But if Joshua hadn't done those things, he wouldn't have met Shiki, or Beat and Rhyme. He wouldn't have seen the errors in his ways, or changed Josh's mind, or made friends. As awful as the things Josh had done were, if he hadn't done them, Neku's life would have remained miserable, and Shibuya would probably be gone. The trip here was rough, but in the end, things had turned out a little better than okay. And that was why, despite it all, Neku still trusted Joshua. Because without him, none of this would have ever happened.

"Phones, quit spacing out!"

"Yeah, Neku. We're going to be late. Eri just texted me, she's waiting for us."

"Honestly dear, _try_ to stay on the planet earth. Next thing you know you'll get hit by a car..."

Neku would never forget the horrible things that had happened to him, just as he would never forget the wonderful things that had come out of it. Time heals all wounds. Scars might never heal. Give them time though, and eventually, they'll fade...

* * *

**I love the ending of TWEWY, and how Neku tells Josh that he still trusts him, even though Josh is a total douchebag and a liar and jerkwad :3 Because even though Josh is all those things and put Neku through hell three times, if Neku hadn't gone through all tat crap, Josh would have found another proxy, and have destroyed Shibuya anyway, and Neku would have died miserable and friendless. Joshua brought Neku back and now his life can be happy. So Neku still trusts him, even if he can never truly forgive and forget the things that Josh has done.**


	5. Breaking the Rules

**Had to change the genre to angst... Because I am incapable of writing anything that doesn't involve a smidgen of angst, unless it is pure crack. ESPECIALLY in TWEWY, which is pretty much nothing BUT angst material xD  
**

**Anyway, this chapter is dedicated to Cherished Tenshi (AKA Bondy), who told me she would continue her amahzing TWEWY drabbles if I continued mine. Plus, she's been asking me for Hanekoma/Joshua fluff. So it is said, so it shall be! Please enjoy.  
**

**Post-TWEWY  
**

* * *

**Characters:** Sanae Hanekoma, Joshua

**Prompt:** "_Breaking the Rules"_

* * *

_To those who wish to become, have recently become, or are in the process of becoming the Producer of a district:_

_ Those achieving the rank of Producer must remember their place in the Reaper Hierarchy. The Producer is to serve under the Composer. Whilst the Producer is, in most cases (see section IX- "Special Conditions"), an Angel -therefore technically outranking the Composer- a Producer is considered under the Composer in the Reaper Hierarchy. By physical and magical capabilities, the Producer still outranks the Composer. However for all intensive purposes, a Producer "surrenders" their status as a full-on Angel and is statistically demoted to a rank lower than Composer. It is the duty of the Producer to make sure that everything needed for each Game is present and in order. Anything that the Composer requests (within the standard Rules of the Game and Existential Laws) of and/or from the Producer must be done within a reasonable amount of time, lest tyranny be suspected._

_ "__**The Producer" Chapter 1, Section II- Ranking and Responsibilities**_

** x x x**

Hanekoma had wanted to be the Producer for the Shibuya Game since the day he'd learned what a Producer was. He didn't want to run around for the rest of his Unlife as a Reaper, or endure the stifling life of the Composer, or fly around the world all day every day as a messenger Angel or a Guardian Angel. Especially not a Guardian Angel. That job was nothing but sweat, pain, and tears. He wanted to be down in the streets of Shibuya, down amongst the masses, where he could watch the people and speak to them through his art.

The first Composer he'd worked alongside had been a strict man, not the friendliest or the most polite. He ran the Games and the Reapers with an iron fist. However, despite his lack of personality (how a man so seemingly unimaginative had become Composer, Hanekoma had never figured out), he was fair. He gave him a long leash. Hanekoma was free to do whatever his heart desired in his free time, so long as he was available whenever he might be needed. It was the good life- well, Unlife.

Then, he'd met Joshua, and it was fair to say that his life was never the same again. In less than a decade the boy had made his way into the Game, worked his way up the delicate Reaper Hierarchy, and overthrown the Composer. He didn't do it alone, of course- Hanekoma had played a fair hand in the demise of his boss, somewhat reluctantly. He'd allowed himself to get involved with a mortal though, and he'd had to pay the price. Hanekoma couldn't bear to let Joshua go into his insane plot alone.

He tried to warn him- how dangerous it was to play the Game, how there were no guarantees, how unhappy he would be when he finally got what he seemed to want so badly. As expected, Joshua didn't listen. Hanekoma had tried cutting him off, avoiding him, ignoring him... It didn't work, of course. Hanekoma always had a soft spot for the kids, and Joshua wasn't just any kid. He was Joshua. He was _his_ kid, and allegiance to the Composer or not, he'd be damned if that kid bit the dust on his watch. Maybe he wasn't supposed to get involved with mortals, or play favorites, but he couldn't help it. Joshua had that sort of effect on people. Once he came into your life, you really couldn't help getting tangled up in his.

Hanekoma looked away from CAT's latest masterpiece- which he'd been painting on the ceiling of the WildKat for lack of a bigger canvas -and down at the Composer.

"_What _do you want me to do?" He asked, careful to place his paint brush back in the bucket of paint. He was beyond skilled enough to paint without the use of the tarp. That, and the floor was already so paint splotched, it really didn't matter at this point...

The boy smirked, stuffing his hands into his pocket and leaning back against the wall.

"Come _on_ Hanekoma," he sighed, long and drawn out, probably for emphasis. "Surely the great and magnificent CAT could create a mural with an imprinting code for something like this." His smirk showed in just about every feature of his body. Mr. H shook his head wryly.

"Flattery will get you nowhere," he reminded him, returning his attention to the ceiling. "Besides," He grumbled, standing on the tops of his toes to reach that _one_ spot (he was too lazy to get down and move the ladder...), "The Counsel has made it _very_ clear that they're not particularly happy with me embedding imprinting codes all throughout Shibuya." It made sense, he supposed- those on a Higher Plane had been getting more vehement about advocating the rights of the living. Those in the UG had always had a habit of harassing those in the RG, and only recently had the angels on the Higher Plane started seriously reconsidering imprinting codes and such. It made sense, but it was also a pain in the ass...

The Composer let out a rather childish sigh, and Hanekoma glanced back at him.

"Oh, don't give me that look." He continued giving him That Look. The look that practically screamed 'Give me all your pity'. Mr. H sighed. "Okay, so, say I was considering painting it..." The boy's eyes lit up a bit, and he returned his gaze to the Angel. "The Counsel would probably whoop my ass and make me take it down." He grumbled at the thought. He'd barely managed to reclaim his position as Producer, after acclaiming the status of "Fallen Angel". He would have been fine remaining fallen, had it not been for a certain obnoxious little Composer, who _apparently_ needed to be watched 24/7, lest he attempt mass genocide.

"What's one more little rule broken?" Said homicidal Composer teased. Mr. H put his brush back in the bucket- for good this time.

"I don't know," he sighed, fixing a serious gaze on him. "You tell me."

"I don't know. I've lost count." He shrugged, staring up at the ceiling. "You really ought to fix that crack, Mr. H. It's not a pleasant sight for customers. Maybe that's why you never get any." He looked up at the Angel coyly, and Hanekoma rolled his eyes.

"I don't get any customers, because I'm _dead_," He chuckled, reaching down and ruffling Joshua's hair with his paint-splotched hand. "And don't try to change the subject!" He crowed. Almost immediately, cool and composed Boss Man vanished, and the Composer was suddenly Joshua again, shoving his hand away and frantically trying to fix his hair.

"Sanae~! You're going to get paint in it!" He huffed, looking down at the glossy counter, trying to spot his reflection so he could rearrange his locks. Hanekoma tried to hide his smile. "I keep telling you to stop doing that... I'm not seven anymore." Joshua grumbled, shooting him a sour look. Hanekoma grinned.

"Shame. You were such a _good_ boy when you were young. What happened to that kid, hmm?" He smiled, a sort of melancholy smile. Josh had a dead-fish gaze fixed on him now, accompanied by a childish pout that looked almost identical to the one he'd worn when he was younger- much younger. Hanekoma remembered those days, when he was young and curious and so much less... Devious. It felt like it was only yesterday, when that fluffy-haired boy had come running in, trying to get away from the "creepy guys" (Reapers, though little Josh hadn't known that back then) that no one else saw.

Joshua's eyes darkened a little, and he hopped up onto the counter, nearly knocking over Hanekoma's mug. He became very interested in his shoes. Mr. H suddenly regretted saying anything.

"You know perfectly well what happened to him. He made out with the barrel of a gun, if I remember correctly." Joshua replied coldly, in a tone that clearly implied he didn't feel like talking about it. Hanekoma sighed, wishing he hadn't brought it up.

Truth be told, he actually knew very little of what had happened. Any time he asked, Joshua either changed the subject, or told him stories that were so obviously lies they were almost funny.

"Forget I mentioned it." He reached down for his mug. Josh picked it up, examined its contents, then handed it to the Angel, who downed it with a look on his face that seemed a little _too_ pleased. Ah, nothing kept you going like coffee. Josh's nose wrinkled in disgust.

"I swear, we need to do something about your caffeine addiction..." He sighed, shaking his head somberly. Hanekoma laughed, handing the mug back to his fluffy-haired companion.

"It's not an addiction. I can stop any time I want." He retorted. Joshua smirked.

"_Any_time? How about now?" He lifted the mug, holding it out over the sink. Hanekoma reached for it rather theatrically (though how much of it was an act, he couldn't be sure), nearly falling off the ladder as he grasped for it.

"I saw anytime _I_ want!" He croaked, and Josh laughed, handing it back to him and shaking his head, platinum locks bouncing around as he did.

"You're a sad, sad man." He giggled. Hanekoma snorted, reaching out and mussing Josh's hair just to spite him.

"You aren't exactly perfect yourself." Joshua scowled, trying to lean away and preserve his mane. "Little rebel. Honestly, I don't think there's a rule in the book we haven't walked all over, between the two of us." Hanekoma laughed, though he didn't find it all that funny. Lately he'd been trying to make light of all the serious matters going on around him, but so far, it hadn't made them feel any less serious. Not to him at least. With Joshua, it was hard to tell.

"There's a book? Well then, I'll need to see it." Josh brushed a clump of hair over his shoulder, flashing a grin at his Producer. "Need to make sure I didn't miss any." Hanekoma rolled his eyes, climbing down the ladder, and chugging the rest of his coffee. It tasted bitter, all of a sudden. He gagged, dropping the mug into the sink.

"You ought to take this sort of thing more seriously, _Boss_." He smiled tightly, poking Josh in the rib cage, getting a streak of red paint on his shirt. Josh tried not to giggle as he slid off the counter, making his way toward the back door of the WildKat.

"Now, now, Mr. H, don't go and get your feathers all ruffled." He smirked, eyes glinting with mischief as he pushed the door open. "After all, weren't you the one who told me that 'Rules were made to be broken'?"

_**x x x**_

* * *

**Can I just say that I _adore_ Hanekoma and Joshua's relationship? And that they are a very sweet and amusing due to work with? I didn't even like Mr. H much at first, but I fell in love with the guy. He's great. And he is so Joshua's surrogate daddy in my headcanon xD  
**

**Bits of fanon flying around everywhere in here... As for what Joshua wanted Mr. H to embed in a mural, well, you can all decide for yourself what sorts of things little JoshJosh might have been thinking of ;3  
**


	6. Joshua Plays Scribblenauts

**Kay, so, the other day I was playing Scribblenauts, and I thought that Joshua would like that game, because you can screw with peoples heads and make really weird stuff. Then I thought, 'I'll make a drabble about it! 8D' And the little drabble turned into five freaking pages of Josh, Beat and Neku nagging each other over a dumb (awesometastic) game. And I'm guessing it's not nearly as fun to read as it was to write. But I hope it makes some people smile or chuckle.**

**For those who have not played or do not know what Scribblenauts is, it's a game where you can type in pretty much anything you can think of, and the game creates it. You have to create stuff to beat levels, but there are playgrounds at the title screen where you can type in whatever the crap you want and just derp around. You can make multicolored animals, all sorts of people, natural disasters, wings, etc... And you can make a few memes, too xD My sister has the game and I always steal it from her...**

* * *

**Characters: **Neku, Joshua, Beat

**Prompt: **_"Joshua Plays Scribblenauts"_

* * *

It was a beautiful day. Scratch that, it was a _gorgeous_ day. The sky was the deepest, most perfect blue you could imagine. Soft, puffy clouds hung lightly above the city, drifting aimlessly about. The sun was shining, warm and bright, and down below the little people wandered the streets with no worries. It was the perfect day, really...

Suddenly, a shadow passed overhead, blotting out the sun and casting the city in darkness. A few people looked up, expecting to see a cloud. Instead, they saw... A whale?

An enormous blue whale swung its tail through the air, letting out a keening sound as it swum through the sky. People stared up at it, eyes wide, mouths agape. How? How could a whale just be floating through the sky? It wasn't possible.

The shadow of the whale passed slowly overhead, and the people watched it as it soared off, mesmerized. What a tale they would have to tell their families when they returned home...

The sunlight quivered, and hundreds of tiny shadows danced across the ground. An enormous ball of water appeared in the air, warping above the city and looming threateningly above... It floated there for a moment, rippling harmlessly in midair. Then, without warning, it dropped. It spread out as it fell, taking out buildings along the way. Some people stood there, watching in awe as the tidal wave came racing toward them. Others ran, screaming, looking for cover. The water crashed into the city, flooding outward and filling the streets, turning them into canals. Cars bobbed uselessly amongst the waves, their alarms blaring. The water continued rising, swallowing up the buildings, turning the city into Atlantis...

"Dude! What was that for?" Beat ripped the DS from Joshua's hands, glaring at the screen. "You just wasted a level!" He scowled, tapping the "Redo" button with his stylus.

"It was that or Shibuya," Josh mused, leaning back against the couch.

"You have serious thrill issues." Beat grumbled, tapping away at his screen. He'd stolen Rhyme's "Super Scribblenauts" for the DS, and they'd been spending the past hour or so playing it, trying to beat the game before Rhyme got back from her (forced) shopping spree with Eri and Shiki. Surprisingly enough, it was pretty addictive. Being able to create pretty much whatever the crap you wanted was _fun_.

"No, you have serious issues, period." Neku made a grab for the DS (it was _his_ turn, dammit), but Beat scooched away, sprawling out over the arm of the couch. Joshua pouted, sticking his tongue out at Neku.

"At least I don't misspell everything," Josh leered at Beat, "Or get all OCD about beating the levels in order." He redirected his leer to Neku, who glared at him.

"What's the point in beating the game if you don't even play the whole thing?"

"It's just a game." Josh shrugged, leaning over Beat's shoulder to try and grab the game. So far their method of taking turns had gone from One At a Time to Whoever Can Steal the DS First. Beat leaned over further, using a hand to push Josh away. Neku saw an opening and used it, lunging at Beat and snatching the DS from his hand. Beat swore at him ad Neku toppled over the arm of the couch, rolling onto the floor.

"I wanna play." Josh called.

"Are you going to flood the level again?"

"May~be..."

"No more floods." Neku growled, going back a few levels to the last one they had skipped. He didn't have to look up to know Joshua was pouting. "Or black holes."

"Damn." Josh huffed, crossing his arms. Neku flopped onto his back, reading the level description. They had to save three little bear cubs (three pretty freaking cute cubs), without hurting anyone. There was a mama bear that would maul him to death if he got too close, some bees, and a hunter. They could all try and kill him, but if he killed one of them, it was game over, and they'd have to do the level all over again. Neku would be more than happy to just set the hunter on fire and grab the cub, but they couldn't do that (plus Beat and Josh would just call him a hypocrite), so he had to figure out something else.

"Can I _please_ try it?" Josh asked, his please incredibly forced. He fixed an appealing look on Neku, and Neku responded by tossing his shoe at him, making the Composer yelp.

"No." Neku replied. Josh and Beat sucked at Scribblenauts. Beat just blew everything up with grenades or tanks or atomic bombs, and Josh made weird shit (like flying toilets and giant rainbow unicorns) and then killed everything with a black hole or a flood when he got bored. Neku wasn't the most patient person in the world, but at least he actually thought about how he could beat the level.

Beat flailed over the side of the couch, trying to reach the DS.

"Give it. S'mine." He growled, slumping over. Neku wriggled away from the couch on his back, too lazy to get up.

"No. I'm halfway done." Neku growled back. He'd already moved the bees and gotten honey for one of the bear cubs, and he'd reunited the other cub with it's mom. Now he just had to find a way to get rid of that hunter without actually 'getting rid' of him.

Mind-Control Device? Nope. Not a word. Dangit. Um... Female hunter? Maybe the hunter would fall in love with her and get distracte- OH FUCK SHE'S SHOOTING AT THE BEAR OH GOD ERASE ERASE- Phew.

"You take this game way too seriously." Josh muttered, shuffling over to where Beat was and leaning over him.

"Get off, freak." Beat rolled over, successfully knocking Josh off and onto the ground, while also managing to fall off of the couch and land on top of him.

"Well hello there, Daisukenojo." Josh smirked from beneath him. Beat was up in an instant.

"Don't call me that, weirdo!" Beat smacked Josh with a pillow, heaving himself back onto the couch and shooting daggers at the boy with his eyes. Josh smirked, then got up, pacing over to loom over Neku.

"Have you won yet?" He asked, kneeling next to him.

"I can't get to the last little bear!" Neku growled, glowering murderously at the screen. The screen stared blankly back, apathetic to his plight.

"Let me try." Josh grabbed the DS, typing away with the stylus. There was a moment of obnoxious music from the game, then Josh smiled.

"You made another black hole, didn't you?"

Josh handed him back the console. 'Mission Failed, Allies Injured'. Again.

"Goddamit, Joshua." Neku groaned.

"Don't use my name in vain," Josh flipped a lock of hair out of his face. "Let's just skip that level. Do another one instead." Neku sighed. Since discovering you could move on to the next series of missions before defeating a full level, Josh and Beat had been leaping ahead and skipping every mission they could. Beat just wanted to beat the game as quickly as he could (he probably didn't want Rhyme knowing he'd stolen her game, or that he was actually enjoying it), and Joshua really only seemed interested in making the weirdest stuff he could. It was driving Neku crazy. Why couldn't they do it right and beat each level? What was the point of finishing the game is they hadn't even played the whole thing?

Beat rolled off the couch, crawling over and taking his console back from Neku.

"My turn, losers." He grinned. "Lessee..." Beat tapped away, then deflated. "Crud. Another adjective level." Sighing, he handed the game back to Josh. "I hate those levels. They're so boring." Beat complained. Joshua smirked.

"That, and you don't understand the meaning of the word adjective."

"Watch it, pretty boy."

"He's right, you know." Neku laughed, grabbing the game from Josh.

"But-"

"No black holes!"

"Dammit."

Neku didn't mind adjective levels. Josh loved them, but Neku was determined to finally beat a level without the others stealing it and ruining it before he could finish.

There were nine boxes, four of them empty. The first three were supposed to be an example.

A girl with glasses (who, oddly enough, kind of looked like Shiki) plus some weird costume thing equals... A girl with cat ears? Neku tapped the little 'Identify' icon, then clicked the cat-girl. A cosplayer. Oh. Ha. So he had to make a person with adjectives, plus an outfit, to get the person in the last box. It looked like he had to make... A clown, and an angel.

The clown was easy. 'Silly Man' plus 'Green Wig' equals clown. The angel looked like it would be easy to make, but of course, it wasn't.

'Nice Man' plus 'Wings'. Nothing.

'Nice Man' plus 'Halo'. Still nothing.

'Loving Human' plus 'Toga'? Nada.

'Loving Person (Female)' plus 'White Robe'. Zilch.

"What the hell?" Neku growled. What else made an angel?

"Let me do it." Josh reached for the console, but Neku rolled out of the way.

"No." He growled again, tapping on the hints box. The hints would unlock themselves if you waited long enough, but you could buy hints with the points you won from completing levels. Since they hardly completed levels, they barely had enough points to buy hints, but Neku was too frustrated to wait for them to load. This was way more difficult than it needed to be. _This'd better not be something stupid..._

'Angels are paragons of virtue' and 'What does an angel have on its back?' Oh. So he'd just got the adjective wrong. Fail.

"'Paragon of Virtue'? Heh. I'll have to remember that one." Joshua snickered. "You suck at this game." Josh mused, leaning over Neku's shoulder. Neku shrugged him off, shooting him a nasty look as he dragged his human to the delete bin.

"I'm better than you two," Neku huffed. 'Virtuous Man.' Let's see how that works...

The Starite appeared. Neku grinned.

"Beat _that,_" He laughed. Joshua applauded sarcastically.

"You are incredible Neku. A true visionary. I would be lost without you. Now please give me the game." He held his hand out expectantly, and Neku sighed, reluctantly handing him the DS.

"Fine. But no-"

"Black holes. I know." Josh rolled his eyes. "Honestly, you act like I'm a six year old, Neku."

"No floods either."

"Fuck."

Josh began tapping away. Suddenly, his eyes lit up. "Ooh! I get to build a city!" He grinned. Neku smirked.

"Finally. Something you should be good at."

"Yeah. _Should_ be." Beat sidled up in between them, looming over Joshua's shoulder to see what he was doing. Josh began creating as many buildings as he could think of- library, grocery store, shoe store-

"Why shoes?"

"They need to buy clothes, don't they?"

"Yeah, but why shoes?"

"Quiet. I'm God-ing."

"That's not a real verb."

"Hush."

Josh frowned, looking at his tiny excuse for a city. He looked like he wasn't sure what to make next. Suddenly, a light went off in his mind, and he smiled. "I know." 'Recreational Center'. A little icon appeared, telling them that they'd just used a new word, and the building fell into place. The Starite appeared. Josh laughed, then smirked victoriously at Neku. "Look. I did it. And you _doubted_ me." He purred. Neku rolled his eyes.

"Whatever. Just give it back-" Beat swooped in before Neku could finish.

"No way! It's _my_ turn, Phones!" He crowed, cradling the DS protectively. Neku rolled his eyes again.

"Fine. But no explosions!"

"You take the fun out of _everything._" Beat muttered, looking dejected. He whizzed through the level with little help- he had to make a werewolf, moon + man + wolf- then refused to give the DS back to Neku. "That was like, the shortest level _ever_, yo. Let me play another." Reluctantly, Neku sat back and watched. The next level was not as easy. Neku could practically see the gears in Beat's mind churning. He imagined smoke spilling out of his ears.

"Need any help?" Neku offered.

"I _got_ this," Beat growled, his face scrunched up in frustration as he tried to focus on the game. There were four monsters- a headless man, the bogeyman, a zombie, and a ghost. Beat had to give each monster 'what it craved'. All he had left was the ghost, and for the life of him, he couldn't figure out what a ghost might want. "What would a ghost crave?" He asked, looking at Josh. Neku looked at him too. Josh blinked, surprised.

"What? Just because I'm dead, you think I'd know what a ghost wants?" He scoffed, looking offended. "How should I know?"

"Yeesh, no need to get defensive, pretty boy." Beat grumbled. "Phones, if you were a ghost, what would you want?" Neku thought for a moment.

"Somewhere to haunt? I guess." He shrugged. Beat typed in 'Haunted House'. The little green check mark appeared on the screen, and the Starite dropped down.

"Fuck yeah!" Beat grinned, fist-bumping Neku. They were moving on.

The next level involved decorating a house, and Joshua practically pounced on the console, ripping it from Beat's hands.

"I'm doing this one." He declared.

"But it's my turn!" Neku cried, trying to grab the DS from him.

"I called all the God-Levels!" Josh practically sang, crossing his legs and hunching over the game, looking very pleased with himself. Neku grumbled to himself. 'God-Levels', as Josh called them, involved creating lots of things, for an important reason. Like making the city. Neku hardly considered decorating a house a God-Level, but he wasn't in the mood to wrestle the DS away from Josh. It would be easy enough- Josh had about zero upper body strength -but if he tried, Joshua would probably just use it as an excuse to creep on him. And it was kind of amusing to see Joshua get so excited over a little DS game, like he was some sort of little kid.

Josh decorated the house with an assortment of multicolored objects- most of them being either pink, or rainbow. He also added lots of unnecessary adjectives, making things shiny or oversized, or making them float.

"And you think I take the game too seriously?" Neku mused.

"You just don't know how to have fun with it." Josh smirked, handing him the DS as he grabbed the Starite. "Here you go. Knock yourself out." Neku grinned, clicking the next level. They were actually completing levels, in order.

'Fill the Museum With Art or History Exhibits.' Oh poo. This looked like fun.

"I don't suppose you consider this a God-Level too?"

"Just play."

For the next few hours (they lost count after awhile), the three continued tapping away. They were advancing farther and farther, getting closer and closer to the end. Somewhere amidst their gaming, Rhyme texted Beat to tell him she was going to get home later than expected.

"More time for us," Beat grunted, the gears in his mind working hard as he labored his way through an adjective level with help from Joshua. Neku stared at him for a moment. Beat had the protective instincts of a mother bear, _especially _when it came to Rhyme. In most cases, if he got a text like that, he'd have called her back immediately to see why she was going to be late. Damn, Scribblenauts was addictive!

They continued churning through levels, getting closer and closer to the final stage. Neku sat impatiently between Josh and Beat, waiting anxiously for his turn. Only a few more levels, then they would beat the game, before Rhyme even got home!

"S'all yours, Phones." Beat passed him the console, and Neku grabbed it eagerly. Only three more levels. Then they would be at the-

Fuck.

Neku felt himself droop as he saw what level he had to overcome. He grimaced. They couldn't get any further without beating the stupid bear level! Grumbling with determination, Neku set to bear rescuing. Like before, the first two bears were a cinch, but the final cub proved impossible to rescue. The hunter would _not_ move! And every time he tried getting the bear out of the way, the hunter would shoot it! Maybe if he put another animal in to distract the hunter?

_Bang!_

Crud. _That_ didn't work. Neku groaned, massaging his temples.

"Problem, dear?" Josh asked, leaning over his shoulder. Neku scowled at him, then glowered at the DS screen. Again, it remained apathetic to his misery.

"I can't figure out how to save that last cub from the hunter." He growled. Beat's eyes lit up, and he grinned, reaching for the DS. "_Without_ blowing him up or something." He added, and Beat deflated, his hands dropping.

"I got nothin'." He shrugged.

"Here, let me try." Joshua reached for the game. Reluctantly, Neku handed it to him. Josh glanced at the screen, then smirked. He began tapping. Five seconds later, the console was in Neku's hands again, and their was a smug look on Joshua's face. Neku gaped.

"You beat it?" Neku looked at the screen, and his excitement died. 'Allies Defeated, Try Again'. He frowned, glaring at Joshua. "Black hole?" Like he even had to ask. Joshua grinned.

"You know it."

"God_dammit_, Joshua!"

* * *

**Josh would so troll via Scribblenauts.**

**Did you know? If you type in 'Joshua' or 'Josh' in Super Scribblenauts, you get some dude in a suit who spontaneously creates baby unicorns and rainbows. I didn't think anything would happen, but it was AWESOME xD You know, until he killed everything else I'd created with magical rainbow powers... But seriously, what are the odds?  
**

**I hope I didn't bore anyone with this ._.  
**


	7. Spoon

**Here's another humor drabble that narrowly avoided dragging in angst.  
**

**Don't be alarmed children (and adults). Everything is not what it seems. Despite the drabble prompt, have faith~  
**

**Also, special thanks to PenfullofChaos819 for reading and reviewing all these chapters :)  
**

**Post-TWEWY, Pre-Suspension.  
**

* * *

**Characters:** Neku, Joshua (Mr. H)

**Prompt:** "_Spoon_"

* * *

It was a typical Summer day in Shibuya. Kids were roaming the streets in packs, scanning stores for deals and heckling vendors. It was sweltering out, one of those oppressively hot days that made even the littlest things unbearably discomforting. Sunscreen and makeup was beading up on many pedestrians and melting right off, leaving everyone looking like a bedraggled, sticky mess. Really, it just looked plain miserable outside. You almost had to feel sorry for them... Unless, of course, you were one of those few lucky saps who was smart enough to stay home and chill with the AC blasting, eating icecream or Popsicles and staying cool.

Neku, unfortunately, was _not_ one of those few lucky saps.

"I can't believe we have to wash _every freaking dish_ in the WildKat." Neku growled, muttering angrily to himself.

"Quit whining." Joshua huffed from his seat next to him, taking a wet plate from the pile to dry. He had grabbed the only stool they had in the kitchen and sat right down on it, leaving Neku to stand. Jerk. "It's not _that_ bad. At least this place has AC." Neku rolled his eyes, trying his best to ignore the boy. It was his fault they were stuck here, anyway. Like most of the rotten things that happened in his life, Joshua was the source of this problem as well.

"Yeah, well, so does Shiki's," Neku spat back, wincing as he stuck his hand back into the water. Even with rubber gloves on, the water was still hot enough to boil him alive. "Which is where we could be. If _someone_ hadn't 'accidentally' broken the dishwasher." Neku still couldn't believe Josh had done that. Even if it had been kind of funny at the time- the time being about ten seconds, until Mr. H had walked in and found the horrible aftermath.

"Why the air quotes?" Joshua huffed again, still drying plates off and stacking them up on the rack. It felt like they'd been at this for hours, holed up in the kitchen, washing and drying, washing and drying, etc., etc. Mr. H didn't have a clock back here, so Neku couldn't be sure how long they'd really been trapped. Judging by the depressingly small pile of clean dishes they had in comparison to the dirty pile, he was guessing it hadn't been nearly as long as it felt. "What happened with the dishwasher was a complete accident, dear." Joshua held up a plate to inspect its cleanness. That, or to check his reflection in it. Neku figured it was probably the latter.

"Yes," Neku rolled his eyes again, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Because dishwashers just spontaneously explode in beams of holy light. And you just _happened_ to be standing there when it happened." Neku glanced at the boy, whose only response so far was a complacent smirk. "And the maniacal laughter had absolutely nothing to do with it."

"Exactly." Joshua replied. "And for the record, I did _not_ laugh maniacally." He added. Neku rolled his eyes a third time, because honestly, sometimes the argument just wasn't worth it. With all the eye-rolling he did around Josh, it was a miracle his eyes hadn't rolled right out of his head.

Honestly, Neku still couldn't figure out _why_ Joshua had destroyed the thing. Joshua could do some pretty weird and random stuff when he got bored (Joshua and boredom did _not_ go well together, unless you wanted destruction), but usually there was some sort of method to his madness.

Neku had been doodling away in his sketch pad, sitting at one of the booths in the WildKat while he waited for Shiki and Eri to finish shopping and meet him there, when Joshua had come out of the kitchen. He hadn't said a word. Neku had looked up, nodded at him, and returned to his sketches. Then, there was a blinding light. Within the next five seconds, the smoking carnage of what had once been a perfectly decent dishwasher was lying everywhere, and Joshua was just staring at the hole in the wall with a smug little smirk on his face.

Maybe Joshua had some sort of century-old vendetta against dish cleaning appliances. Or maybe it had wronged him sometime in the past. Or maybe Joshua really was just plain old insane, and had obliterated the thing simply because he _could_. Either way, Mr. H's dishwasher, which had been sitting there so peacefully only seconds before, no longer existed. And before Neku could figure out what the hell had just happened, Mr. H came storming in from the other room, complaining about the racket.

The look Joshua got on his face when he realized that Mr. H was still in the WildKat still made Neku grin ear to ear. Even if it had only been for a brief moment, Joshua had looked absolutely terrified. And Mr. H, for the first time since Neku had met him, looked completely and utterly pissed.

Neku figured the only reason Mr. H hadn't killed anyone was because Eri and Shiki had walked in a few seconds later, laughingly oblivious to what was going on. They'd barely made it out in time to avoid getting wrangled into clean-up. Neku still wished he'd left with them. Because apparently, in Mr. H's book, sitting there while the dishwasher is getting blown up is just as bad as blowing it up, and he was some sort of accomplice to Joshua's assassination of a perfectly good (and apparently rather expensive) appliance. And as said accomplice, Neku was required to endure Hanekoma's wrath, and spend the weekend taking care of all of the dishes his poor deceased dishwasher could no longer clean.

The dish-washing process was painful- actually, physically painful! The water was so hot it was scalding. He was surprised he didn't have third-degree burns by now. His fingers were getting all shriveled and pruny, even with gloves on, and it felt disgusting. And he kept accidentally spraying himself when he tried to rinse the dishes, so his shirt and pants were soaked through now, and with the AC on full blast, it was _not_ a comfortable feeling. It didn't help that Joshua kept trying to whistle (very badly, he might add) the theme-song to some dumb anime Shiki had been trying to get them into. Honestly, it was like Joshua had some sort of instinct to be annoying. Half the time nowadays, he hardly seemed aware of when he was being bothersome, though he probably didn't care. That just meant he didn't have to try so hard.

"I'm pretty sure there are child labor laws that say we can't be forced to do this..." Neku grumbled, grabbing a handful of silverware from the sudsy water and rinsing them under the faucet. The water jetted off of the surfaces of the forks and spoons, shooting straight at him and re-drenching his already sopping shirt. He pulled them away, swearing loudly. Joshua giggled, and Neku poked him with a spork- not hard enough to leave a mark, but just hard enough to make him move his arm away and scowl. Neku smirked, then silently wondered why Mr. H would even _need_ sporks at the WildKat.

"Technically Mr. H is my legal guardian, so I'm pretty sure those laws don't apply." He mumbled, taking the utensils from Neku and dropping them on the counter, drying them one by one.

"You're dead. No laws apply." Neku grumbled back, reaching for one of Mr. H's coffee mugs. It was huge, and sort of lumpy. The color was reminiscent of an old radish. It looked sort of like one of those dumb art projects his teachers used to make him make back in grade school. On one side, it had _#1 Dad_ etched into it, rather crudely, with a few shaky little stars carved into the handle. It looked like a piece of crap, to put it nicely.

_Where would Mr. H get this?_ Neku wondered, dunking it into the water and washing out the old coffee stains. Half of the dirty dishes here were coffee mugs. Coffee was probably the most popular drink in Shibuya, and a majority of that coffee was consumed by Mr. H. Neku idolized the guy -he was CAT, for Pete's sake! -but seriously, he had some sort of addiction to the stuff. Over half of these mugs were from coffee he'd drank, not that he'd sold. Judging by the small mountain of mugs Neku still had to clean out, that couldn't be healthy...

Something cold and wet pressed itself against his cheek, and Neku bristled, immediately smacking it. His fingers wrapped around the foreign object, pulling it away. Neku then glared murderously at the assailing... Spoon?

Cross, Neku glared over at Joshua, who was giggling like an idiot again, grabbing another spoon and poking him in the ribcage with it.

"What are you doing?" Neku asked, in a tone that implied a much needed 'Do I even want to know?' Josh poked his cheek with the spoon again, smirking.

"Spooning you."

Neku blinked, then grimaced.

"Hardy-har-har. You're hilarious." He laughed dryly, grabbing the spoon and thwacking him not-so-lightly on the head with it.

"I know," Joshua huffed, rubbing the spot where Neku had hit him with a rather sour look on his face. "I've been considering giving up Composering to be a comedian." He sighed, with mock-drama in his voice. Neku rolled his eyes (_again_, that made four times now), grabbing a few more mugs and dumping them into the water.

"You should probably stick with tormenting souls." The thought of Joshua trying to be a stand-up comedian struck Neku as amusing, and despite himself, he chuckled.

"See? I _am_ hilarious." Josh smirked, poking Neku with yet another spoon. Neku scowled, pushing it down.

"Put them away." He growled. Josh poked him again. "Stop spooning me!" He reached into the basin and splashed Joshua, leaving a huge sopping splotch on his shirt. Joshua let out a rather surprised gasp, almost falling backward off his stool.

"You little-" Neku grinned, trying hard not to laugh.

"You overreact to everything." He chuckled. Joshua glowered at him, grabbing a towel and trying to mop up his shirt.

"Do not." Josh tried to glare at him, but it looked more like a pout. He then plunked the spoons down in the drawer where they belonged, looking rather resigned. Neku rolled his eyes. For someone who spent most of their existence acting Holier Than Thou, Joshua could be such a pansy sometimes.

Something cold and metal poked him in the side again, and Neku leaned away, glaring at Joshua accusingly.

"I told you to stop spooning me." He growled. Joshua smirked, holding up a different utensil.

"I know. Now I'm forking you."

Neku stared at him with a look that he hoped translated as 'I can_not_ believe you just said that', and opened his mouth to retort with... Something, when someone else beat him to the punch.

"_What?_"

Neku and Joshua looked up to see Mr. H standing in the doorway, a large paper bag clutched to his chest and a rather mortified look on his face.

"Oh hello Mr. H." Joshua smirked, giving him a little wave. Neku's gaze flickered between the two of them. He wasn't sure if he should have been dying of embarrassment, or laughing his ass off. The look on Mr. H's face was pretty priceless. He looked like he had barely been able to keep himself from dropping his grocery bag.

"_What _were you two doing?" He asked again.

"Oh, nothing." Joshua replied in a sing song voice, returning his attention to drying dishes. Neku still wasn't sure what to do, but he felt like he was leaning toward the 'Laugh My Ass Off' side of the spectrum. He couldn't help but snicker at the shocked look on Mr. H's face (he wasn't quite sure how to describe it... Horrified was the first word that came to mind, but that didn't seem right). Finally, Mr. H shook his head, his expression fading into aggravation as he placed his bag down on the counter.

"I swear, I can't leave you two alone for ten minutes..."

_**X X X**_

* * *

**See, it wasn't that bad. No real deep meaning here... I wrote this for teh lulz. Because Josh bothering Neku and Neku being like "I don't have time for your sh!t" is very amusing. The only thing that had an semblance of meaning in this chapter whatsoever was the mug, which could have branched into some angst or fluff, but I decided not to go off track. I'll probably revisit the mug another time ;3  
**

**I got the prompt from the 30 Day OTP challenge, which I wanted to do a sort of parody of... By taking all the dirty/smutty themes, and making them lulzy and non-sexual. Spooning isn't really sexual, but still, I thought it might give people the wrong idea. Come on though. It turned out okay, right? ;3  
**


	8. Joshua Vs The Machine

**I don't care if nobody asked. I had to write this. And once I started, I couldn't be stopped. I knew I would have fun writing this, but I didn't realize how much fun I would have xD  
**

**Takes place directly _before_ the chapter previous to this one. So it's still Post-TWEWY, Pre-Suspension.  
**

* * *

**Characters:** Joshua, Mr. H, Neku

**Prompt:** "_Dishwasher_"

* * *

**Joshua vs. The Machine **

_**(Why Joshua Killed the Dishwasher)**_

**x x x  
**

Joshua had always loathed the dishwasher. Always.

Mr. H had owned the piece of garbage since the day Joshua had first stumbled into the WildKat cafe, and no doubt he'd had it for years before. It hadn't come with the place, but he'd paid a pretty penny to get it installed. He loved the thing- almost as much as Joshua despised it.

Maybe it was petty to hate a machine. Maybe it was stupid. That didn't make Joshua's hatred for it burn any less though.

Now, one thing someone might wonder would be _why?_ Why did he spend so much energy despising a simple machine? Oh, if you'd only let him count the ways... It was loud, for starters. Obnoxiously loud. It clanked and it rattled with such vehemence that he swore he could hear it from Dead God's Pad. He could feel the damned thing's vibrations from down in the sewer! It was awful. Every night, when he was actually trying to get some sleep, he would hear it rattling and moaning up above. Even when he wasn't trying to sleep, it was still a very unpleasant distraction from his thoughts. You try to have deep introspective soliloquies in your mind while the dishwasher is screaming like a banshee overhead.

Then there was the fact that is spit up on him. Constantly. And when he said constantly, he wasn't exaggerating. Joshua couldn't remember a time he'd walked by the darned thing without it spewing sudsy water full of food-bits at him- _scalding hot_ sudsy water full of food-bits, mind you. All he had to do was brush up against the thing, and the front would drop off its hitch, burbling a nice spray of boiling water at him before clicking shut again like nothing had ever happened.

Sometimes it wasn't even on when it happened. It was like the thing was possessed. He was putting some plates in one time, and all he did was bump the thing closed with his hip. Then, like magic, it roared to life, the front bouncing back at him and dousing him with a nice jet of water. After practically wrestling the freaking thing into submission and somehow managing to turn it off, Mr. H had walked in with a few customers, and found him standing there- with his pants soaked. It wasn't hard for any of their imaginations to jump to conclusions. He'd been rather embarrassed about it- so embarrassed that he'd locked himself down in the sewers and hadn't emerged until he was so bored he _had_ to come up and eat, lest his own boredom erase him. Not that that could really happen, as far as he knew. Still, better safe than sorry, right?

Now, the dishwasher never misbehaved around Mr. H or Sho or anyone else. _No,_ it was perfectly decent when they went to go put stuff away. It didn't bounce open and try to drown Sho, and Mr. H never complained about the blood curdling shrieks the thing made while it washed dishes. It was targeting him. It had a death wish against him, always had, even before he'd entered the Game. It didn't matter that he was already dead, the thing still wanted to steal his soul. Or eat him. Or whatever it was demonic dishwashers did with their prey (he couldn't be sure, he'd never dealt with Satanic appliances from Hell before).

So, since the dishwasher was a perfect little angel around everyone else, nobody believed his plight. No, they all thought he was being "melodramatic", because, apparently, he had a "habit of being so". Whatever. Didn't change the fact that the thing was devil-spawn.

Now, the real question about all of this is, why didn't Joshua just nuke the thing? He loathed it with a burning, fiery passion. He had fantasies about incinerating it, lighting it on fire and shoving it over the edge of a building, plunging it into Shibuya River... Or blasting it into oblivion. That would be good too. Sure, he hadn't been able to do anything about it when he was seven and the thing had tried to _freaking eat him alive_, and even when he was a Reaper he'd been pretty useless against its wrath. He was Composer now though. He was a god -okay, a demigod, but _still._ He had enough power to blow the thing to freaking Timbuktu and back. So why didn't he?

The only thing that kept Joshua from fulfilling these bizarre fantasies was Mr. H's undying love for the thing. So what if it was a machine? So what if Angels weren't supposed to have "earthly attachments"? Mr. H had never been much of a poster boy for Angels anyway. The dishwasher was his baby- you know, other than his coffee machine, which Joshua swore he worshipped when no one else was around. Wouldn't surprise him. The dishwasher had sentimental value to him. It was the first thing he'd bought for the WildKat after getting the cafe, his very first investment (aside from the cafe itself). Even if it was loud, and demonic, and was out for Joshua's unlife, it was worth every penny Mr. H had spent on it and then some. It was old (older than Joshua, that was for sure, which was like, ancient in dishwasher years), but it still cleaned dishes better than any new machine they could afford.

So, for many years, Joshua had resisted the ever-growing urges to just end the dishwasher's life. Because as much as he _loathed_ it, he really didn't feel like pissing Mr. H off. Hanekoma was a pretty easy going guy most of the time. It was hard to get him riled up (when he was younger -okay, screw it, even today, Joshua had made almost a sport out of seeing how hard he could push the Angel's buttons before he snapped) but when he did get mad, well... Let's just say that Joshua wasn't fast enough to get out of the firing range. The strangest things could set Mr. H off. Like messing with his coffee. Or flipping the 'Open' sign to 'Closed' during lunch hours (which Joshua had a habit of doing, because he got bored, _a lot_). Or murdering seemingly innocent appliances.

However, one can only take so much torment from a machine. Joshua had been putting up with the dishwasher's crap for over a decade, and he was getting _real_ tired of it. Sometimes he swore it was laughing at him. Not that he said anything about it- at least, not after last time, when Mr. H had given him a look like he was insane (yeah, _he_ was the crazy one in this household).

It was on one fateful day that the dishwasher decided to assault Joshua again. Little did it realize its mistake- for, though nobody knew it yet, this would be the last time it would ever harass Josh again.

There was no Game that week. The last one had ended yesterday, and there weren't enough souls floating around to start up a new one, so Josh was coming up from Dead God's Pad to see if he couldn't bother Neku or Beat, or maybe even go hang out with Shiki and Eri, if they weren't busy with their fashion designery stuff. The washing machine was rumbling rather quietly, for once. Joshua was distracted by fanciful thoughts of herping his derp about the RG in Shibuya, so he was only mildly surprised by this rather out of character behavior from the bane of his existence. Had he been paying attention, he might have regarded this as a miracle. Or maybe he would have seen through its tricks. Then, maybe, he could have prevented the events which consequentially led to the demonic device's demise.

All he did was brush against it. That was _all he did._ His hip gently bumped it by mistake as he walked by, and immediately, it struck. There was a quiet click as the front was pushed back, sliding off of whatever hinge held it shut. Joshua turned to stare at it in horror as, for the umpteenth time, the machine sprang open, blasting him with yet another wave of scalding water. He'd leapt back with a _totally_ non-feminine scream that didn't sound even _remotely_ like that of a little girl, smashing into the wall and knocking down one of the shelves, which then (not-so) neatly deposited all of its contents (which were made of glass, by the way) atop his head. When the monstrous machine had finished gushing all over him, he managed to get up, only to slip on the pools of water all around him and cut his hand on one of the now-broken mugs he'd knocked off the shelf.

He was soaked, from the waist down, drenched in hot, soapy water, and covered in _disgusting little food bits. Ew. EW._ So nasty.

And if that wasn't bad enough, he looked up from saying the italicized phrase above out loud, only to find that Neku, Beat and Rhyme were all standing in the doorway, looking like they were trying very hard (and failing very miserably) not to laugh.

And so, on that fateful Wednesday, Mr. H's beloved dishwasher had seen its last full day. For by this time the next day, it would have cleaned its last dish.

Every Thursday, Mr. H went to go get groceries and restock the WildKat. Rain or shine, snow or sleet or blazing sun, Mr. H would always make his trek on a Thursday. Joshua was not really sure why. Something about it being right in between Friday -because it was always busy right before the weekend- and Wednesday- because it was the middle of the week. Or something like that. On that particular Thursday, however, Joshua couldn't have cared less _why_ Mr. H insisted on leaving the WildKat unattended for several hours. All that mattered was that he would be gone, leaving him and his nemesis alone.

He had been hanging out down in his room, pouting about yesterday and the fact that his room smelled like feces because it was in the sewer (why the heck did the god of Shibuya have to live in the _sewer_, anyway? Seriously?), when Mr. H came down to tell him he was off. He'd given his usual "Don't blow up the WildKat again" spiel, and warned him that Neku was upstairs waiting for the girls, so pretty please don't kill each other, and Absolutely No Jesus Beaming Allowed, no exceptions, k thnx bai. And then, without another word, he was gone.

About five minutes after he'd left Joshua alone, Joshua's mind had drifted back to nasty thoughts of avenging his poor clothes against the foul machine that had made his life (and now his unlife) miserable for so long. It probably took about fifteen minutes for him to realize that, Mr. H was gone, and if he were to, say, _accidentally_ destroy the dishwasher... Well, would Mr. H necessarily know he'd done it?

He could say Sho had come in and tried to assassinate him again. Yeah. And they'd got in a huge fight, and the poor, innocent dishwasher had gotten blown to smithereens in the process. Such a shame, really, it was only an innocent bystander. Ah well, these things happen in the midst of war, you know? Let's just try and move on.

Words could not describe the sheer delight Joshua felt when he realized that he could finally have his revenge. He'd practically sprinted up the ladder (a very difficult feat that ended with him smashing his head on the sewer cap) to he kitchen in the WildKat (Mr. H had had a super secret sewer entrance installed years ago, when he'd first become Producer, and had gotten tired of warping whenever he needed to talk to the Composer).

Now, Joshua wanted to get the dirty deed done as quickly as possible. He didn't need anyone seeing him laughing maniacally and dancing over the ashes of the vile beast, he just needed it _out of his unlife._ And as fun as it would be to come up with some convoluted plan for its execution and relish in its torment, Joshua figured it would be just as rewarding to watch it get incinerated.

Ignoring Mr. H's specific " Absolutely No Jesus Beaming Allowed, no exceptions" rule, Joshua had barged out of the kitchen, completely ignorant of Neku's presence across the room. He'd eyed the malevolent machine, and for a split second, he wondered if this was really worth it. After all, it was just a dishwasher. Not really worth all of this anguish, right? Plus, Mr. H loved the thing almost as much as he loved his coffee maker! How could he destroy something that meant so much to his dear friend?

Out of the corner of his eye he saw the still-broken shelf lying on the ground, and the dishwasher gurgled mockingly.

Oh, it was _on._

Whipping out his phone, he held it up and clicked a button. The air around him began to whir, and a blinding light exploded through the ceiling above him. Above the roar of holy beams plunging into the ground, Joshua heard Neku swearing. Smoke began to fill the room, and Joshua shielded his face from any flying debris.

The blast lasted for only a few seconds, and once the heavenly rays of destruction had faded, Joshua found nothing but a chunk of wall and floor missing. Random pieces of metal and a few plates were scattered throughout the room, smoldering pitifully here and there. The dishwasher- his nemesis, the monster that had plagued him for so long- was no more. The spot where it had lived all these years, where it had sat and mocked him every day, was now a smoking hole in the ground. He was free. Free! _Free-_

"Joshua, if you are Jesus Beaming Neku, I swear to _God_ I'm gonna-" A horrifyingly familiar voice sounded from just outside the door to the back room, and Joshua felt his blood go cold. Oh God.

Amidst his ingenious thoughts of glorious revenge, it had never occurred to him that Mr. H might not be gone yet.

Joshua stood before the smoldering carnage helplessly as the Angel burst into the room, an irritated look on his face. Upon seeing the rubble, irritation gave way to shock, which quickly flickered into nightmarish rage. If Joshua said he hadn't nearly pissed himself right then and there, he would have been a big fat liar.

"What the _hell_ did you do?" Mr. H seethed, trying to hide his uncharacteristic fury from Neku, who was crawling out from under the table and staring at the mess in a look that probably translated into 'WTF?'

"The dishwasher exploded?" Joshua replied weakly, a stupid, shaky smile crossing his face. Mr. H did not look amused. Joshua wondered if he should tune into the UG and start flying- you know, get a head start. No need for Neku to see him get pulverized (he'd probably just take pictures and laugh about it later, anyway...). For those who are unaware of the undead hierarchy, Angels easily trumped Composers, hands down. As for angry Angels...

Joshua was really starting to wonder if this "revenge" thing was all it was cracked up to be.

Mr. H looked like he was ready to grab him by the hair and drag him out the back, when, thank the _lord_, the little front door bells tinkled, and in walked Shiki and Eri. The two girls were giggling, chatting about some stereotypical teen girl thing, completely oblivious to hostile atmosphere. Joshua considered using this as a distraction, so he could bolt back into the sewers and find some place to hide until Mr. H's wrath had boiled over. Unfortunately, Shiki and Eri's conversation quickly trailed off, and they began to stare wordlessly at the smoking room.

"What happened here?" Shiki asked, her gaze jumping from Neku, to Mr. H, to Josh. Eri kicked at a piece of the dishwasher, which had stopped smoldering now, and was just sitting there, staring smugly at him. Silently, Joshua cursed the damn thing. Even after he'd obliterated it, it was still getting him in trouble! Curse it! Curse the demonic piece of garbage!

"Joshua happened here." Neku replied sourly, closing what looked like a sketch pad and tucking it under his arm. "Come on, I think Mr. H is about to kill him or something." He grabbed Shiki's arm, trying to direct her back to the door. Joshua felt the sudden urge to grab their legs and beg them to take him with them. Unfortunately, before he could do so, a hand slammed down roughly on his shoulder, and a shiver raced up his spine.

"Not so fast." Mr. H boomed, and Neku and the girls froze in the middle of the doorway, rigid. "Eri, Shiki, you can go. _Neku-_" Neku looked like he was about to wet himself. "Stay." Neku looked balefully at Mr. H, then the girls. They shrugged weakly, walking off with a confused hesitancy, as Neku reluctantly eased his way back into the cafe. Nervously, he made his way toward the two Dead Guys, shooting Raeg and Murder at Joshua through his eyes. It's possible Josh might have found this more deterring, had all his fear not been occupied with wondering what the heck Mr. H would do to the two of them (mostly himself, but still).

"I didn't do anything." Were the first words out of Neku's mouth as he came to stand before the Angel, clutching his sketch pad under his arm. "Joshua blew the thing up, I had _nothing_ to do with it." He shot a pissy look at Josh, who returned a similar glare.

"It was an accident!" Josh replied, though even before he said it, he doubted Mr. H would believe him.

"How was that an accident?" Neku laughed bitterly. "You came out and you blasted the thing!"

"Quiet!" Joshua hissed. Mr. H's grip on his shoulder tightened, and Joshua winced. Crap. He was in for it, wasn't he? Oh God... He hadn't even had time to write out his Will. Could dead people make Wills?

"Look..." Mr. H seethed, glaring at Joshua in particular (like thsi was somehow his fault- oh wait, it was completely his fault. Crud.). His voice was surprisingly calm. He was probably trying not to unleash his Raeg while Neku was present. Wouldn't want to traumatize his Number One Fanboy, now would he? Pfft. Whatever.

"I don't know _what_ was going through your head, and honestly, I don't _want_ to know."

"Agreed."

"Shut up Neku." Josh growled.

"Both of you, quiet." Mr. H growled back, in a tone that was far more menacing than Joshua's voice could ever hope to be. Both boys fell silent. "All I know is that the two of you are going to fix this little mess," he gestured the the WildKat, which smelled like smoke and burnt dish detergent, and was covered in broken glass and warped metal. "While I figure out what to do about the dishes." Mr. H shot another nasty look at Josh that easily translated as _You are so not off the hook for this_, then patted both boys on the shoulder and started making his way toward the back room. Joshua stared blankly, unable to believe he hadn't been erased. Neku gaped, watching the man he idolized abandon him to do clean up duty.

"W-Wait, _what?!_" He stammered, shocked. "I didn't even _do_ anything!" As Neku began to launch into a series of complaints and griping about how Joshua always ruined everything, blah blah blah, whine whine, Joshua picked his way across the floor, which resembled a mine field that had already gone off. Rummaging through the broom closet, he managed to find the closet's namesake- brooms.

"What on earth would make you think blowing up a dishwasher was a good idea?" Neku growled, glowering murderously at the fluffy-haired boy, who in return merely shoved a broom into his hand. Without another word, Joshua got to work, pushing shards of broken plates across the floor and into a pile. Neku stared at him wordlessly for a moment, still too shocked by his unjust treatment to respond properly. Joshua pointedly ignored him, trying to whistle some song that he'd gotten stuck in his head. Whistle while you work, and all that jazz. Maybe if he did a good enough job cleaning up, Mr. H wouldn't kill him when he got back. Neku grumbled to himself, looking despondently at the broomstick.

"Why do I even bother coming here?"

Joshua swept up a little cloud of dust at him.

"Shut up and clean, dear."

_**X X X**_

* * *

**I regret nothing.**


	9. Dear Neku

**Have some Joshua stuff. Pretty short and drabbly, it's okay I s'pose. Bondy told me to update some stuff and I figured I'd finish this up today xD  
**

**Joshua kind of sort of writes a letter to Neku (one that he does not ever intend to show him), telling him why he is not sorry for everything he has put him through.  
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**Characters:** Joshua (Neku)

**Prompt:** "_Dear *someone*_"

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**Dear Neku  
**

_**(I'm Not Sorry)**_

**x x x  
**

Dear Neku:

_I'm not sorry._

There. I said it.

I don't care how terrible that is, or how awful a person it makes me sound. You can make all the pissed faces you want at me. Go ahead. Yell at me, punch me in the face and leave me lying on the ground, storm off shouting about how much you hate me and how you wish you'd never met me- I don't care (_and maybe if i say this enough times it will become true_). It's not going to make a difference.

You expect some sort of apology from me, is that it? You want me to drop to my knees and beg, for a forgiveness that you'll never give me? I suppose you want me to give some tearful spiel about how _sorry_ I am, and about how horrible I feel for everything that I did to you. Well, I hate to break it to you _dear_, but that won't be happening any time soon. I won't say it, and no matter how many guilt trips you or anyone tries to send me on, you won't be able to make me.

Do you want to know _why_ I'm not sorry?

If I hadn't killed you, you never would have been in the Game. If you'd never been in the Game, you never would have met Shiki, or Beat or Rhyme- and even if you had, by some twist of fate, met them in your lifetime, you never would have formed any sort of relationship with them. You wouldn't be sharing the kind of bond you have now. If you hadn't met them, you wouldn't be their friends, and you wouldn't have changed. You wouldn't have seen the light, learned to look at the world for the wonderful place it can be. You wouldn't be the person you are now.

And finally, if you hadn't been in the Game, you would not have been my Partner. If we hadn't been Partners, I never would have gotten to know you, and I never would have changed my mind- about Shibuya, or humanity, or anything. If that had been the case, then by now we'd all just be dust drifting through Oblivion.

If I hadn't put you through those three awful weeks, then I never would have realized that the world is not frozen in place- that society and the people that make it up are not a constant, but in fact millions of variables. I never would have seen that it's not impossible for someone to change. If I hadn't killed you... You never would have become a better person.

You never would have made me want to be a better person.

_If I hadn't shot you we would both be deader than dead and I never would have met you._

So in the end, when you really think about it, the answer stays the same. I am not sorry. Maybe you are, and maybe you should be, but at the end of every day...

I am not sorry that I met you.

Remember, that first week? The one after the Game, I mean- you know, the third one. The last one. You said something that day, something along the lines of "I can't forgive you, but I trust you." It's a touching sentiment, really. Makes my little heart melt. But you know what? It doesn't really matter if you can't forgive me, because I'm not looking for forgiveness. Getting forgiveness would entail that I was willing to give you an apology, and like I said- I'm not sorry.

Besides. Would you even believe me, if I did? If I said I was sorry, if I really truly meant it... Would you really be dumb enough to...

...

You know what, forget it. It's not important. Why waste time thinking about it, when we both know it will never happen? I'm never going to apologize. You're never going to forgive me. So let's stop chasing each others tails over this.

I'm supposed to say something nice now, aren't I? Give this whole thing a point, right? It's only fair, I guess, since you've had to sit through this whole message about how un-sorry I am for everything I've done to you. I just... I wanted you to know, I'm not not sorry out of spite, or cruelness, or anything like that. I'm not saying this to hurt you- I think we can both agree that I've done that more than enough to last a lifetime or two.

And the funny thing is that you'll probably never even see this, because I'll probably never even give it to you. But even if you don't, there's just one thing that I had to get out- if not to you, then at least to myself:

_I'm really glad I met you. _

_**X X X**_

* * *

******I found something I'd scribbled on my papers the other day about Josh and Neku and it said something like "But I'm not sorry! I'm not sorry that I met you, or that you changed, or that you changed me!", so I decided to try and make a full drabble from it. The prompt "Dear *someone*" helped me to complete it :P**


	10. Wings

**Here's a really short and stupid drabble where we take some time out of our lives to fully appreciate the magical beauty that is Joshua's wings. I'm not really sure what it is about it, but the fact that Josh has fluffy little angel wings and can fly just makes me love him that much more. And though they aren't really a huge part of my Wonderful Moments-verse, I wanted to try and incorporate them a little... There is no point to this other than, I was drawing Joshua's wings, and I decided "let's write about these babies". And it came out in the form of this. Yeah. Mm'kay...  
**

**Oh, and Pen, I've gotten your PMs and I read them both, I just haven't had time to get to them yet :P But I will reply before vacation ends (hopefully before New Years xP)  
**

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**Characters:** Neku, Joshua (Eri, Shiki)

**Prompt:** "_Wings_"

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/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"Is that, or is that not, the most precious thing you've ever seen?" Shiki practically cooed. Neku tried not to roll his eyes, but it was pretty hard to resist.

Joshua was curled up on his bed, sound asleep. Even though he was in the RG, his wings were visible. They were curled protectively over him, like a feathery blanket. His chest rose and fell silently- an odd habit possessed by most of the undead (or unliving, whichever term you preferred), Neku had noticed, was that their bodies never seemed to realize they no longer needed oxygen to "survive"- and he shifted, mumbling something tiredly as he nestled his head against his arm. If Neku didn't know any better, he'd have thought that Joshua actually looked kind of... Innocent, while he was sleeping. Peaceful and vulnerable, like a normal child. Like a human.

In the dim light of the sewer (honestly, why did he stay here? Why?), Josh's wings seemed to give off a faint glow. Neku had never seen real angel wings before. Okay, so technically Josh wasn't an actual "angel", per say, but Neku figured having snowy white wings probably passed as angelic. Which was a riot, because whenever Neku imagined the words 'Joshua' and 'angelic' together, it was as synonyms. Still, he had to admit... They were really pretty. Like dove's wings, or a swan. He'd read somewhere that a swan could break a grown man's bones with one smack from its wings. What sort of damage wings this size could do?

Neku had never gotten to see a bird's wing up close before- and never a wing this freaking huge. Despite all his flaws, Josh tried not to make a habit of showing off his wings to Neku and the others, and Neku had never really bothered asking to see them (and now that he thought about it, it was kind of a weird thing to ask, so why would he?). The few times he had brought them out, he was either too high up for anyone to get a decent look, or he was throttling Neku across the airspace of Shibuya- and it was a little hard to focus on stuff like that when you were being kidnapped and dragged off on a surprise joy ride. Either way, Neku had never _really_ seen Josh's wings.

The feathers started out small at his shoulder blades, fanning out in about a forty-five degree angle, and spreading across the ridge of his wing. As they stretched downward, they got longer and larger- the lowest row consisting of feathers about the length of Neku's forearm, some even longer. He wasn't a biology wiz, but that seemed to make sense- Josh's bones probably weren't hollow like a bird's, so his wings would have to be pretty big and full to get him off the ground.

Did Angels have hollow bones? That was one of the reasons birds could get airborne, right? Angel wings would have to be freaking huge, to carry those bodies. That didn't explain Reapers though- their wings were literally nothing but bone, no feathers to speak of. They seemed to float more than fly though, so maybe the wings were just for show... The Game and everything about it seemed to defy all logic Neku had ever known of though, so biology and science probably didn't apply. At least, not in the ways he'd learned about it in school. He'd have to ask Mr. H later, he'd probably know.

Looking closer, Neku noticed that Josh's wings weren't just plain white. They were sort of pearly- a shiny whitish color that seemed to reflect hues of pink and green. The tiniest feathers at the top seemed to have little flecks of gold buried in them, so small they were hardly there, and the larger feathers had slight hints of violet and silver reflecting off of them. It wasn't anything blaring, like the rainbow wings of a macaw,- it was very subtle, like an opaque kaleidoscope hidden within his feathers. They were very shiny, kind of shimmery, even in the dull glow of Shiki and Eri's phones (and what the heck were they doing- they weren't taking pictures were they? Because that would be really creepy. Unless they were going to use them to blackmail Josh, but Shiki was too nice for that, so that probably wasn't the case...).

They were so downy and fluffy, like a baby chick or something. Which was weird, because Neku was pretty sure birds couldn't fly with downy wings. He was also pretty sure that the last time he'd seen Josh's wings, they'd been stiff like a swan's. Maybe it was like when a cat puffed up its fur- the feathers were all strong and ready to go when Josh needed to fly, but they softened when he'd let his guard down. He was still sleeping soundly, murmuring under his breath. His feathers were soft and almost translucent in places, giving off a faint, ethereal glow. He wouldn't have said this out loud, but if he disregarded the fact that they were attached to Joshua, it was actually kind of beautiful. Supernatural, in a way that felt more calming or soothing than any of the _other_ supernatural things he'd been faced with.

Without really thinking about it, Neku reached out, stroking the downy fluff. It was _very_ soft, much softer than chick down or anything else he'd ever felt. Fingering one of the feathers, it seemed to hum musically against his touch, buzzing faintly in his hand. Like it was made of magic or something.

"Enjoying yourself?"

A groggy voice snapped Neku back into reality, just in time for him to realize that he had a fistful of feathers in his hand. Josh was sitting up, leaning on his arms, his violet eyes dulled with sleep, but still flickering with wry amusement. In the background, Shiki and Eri were giggling, probably thinking of things Neku didn't even want to imagine. Hastily, Neku let go, his arm returning to his side. Josh's familiar smirk was already there, but it quickly split apart as the boy sat up, yawning and stretching. His wings gently unfurled themselves from around him, spreading out across the room. In their full span, the tips just touched the walls. Neku wondered if Josh had positioned his bed just so he could do that. He also wondered if Josh always slept with his wings out, like some sort of magical security blanket or something. He also _also_ wondered why the hell he was wondering this stuff, and if he should say something, because everyone in the room was staring at him now, and it looked like they were expecting him to.

"Eri and Shiki wanted to know if you wanted to go to the Ramen Don with us." He pointed his thumb back toward the girls.

"Why do you even go there, it's not like you eat anything." Josh yawned again, already sliding his legs off the bed and pulling on his shoes. "You are Eri are like toothpicks." He mused, and Eri scoffed, hands placed firmly on her much-too-large-for-her-torso hips.

"You aren't exactly packing on the pounds either," Neku noted.

"At least my head isn't bigger than my waistline," Josh replied pleasantly. His wings had furled back against his back again, and were starting to shimmer out of existence -or back into the UG. Whichever made more sense.

"At least my ego isn't bigger than my wingspan."

"You don't _have_ a wingspan, dear."

"Exactly." Neku grinned. Josh blinked, and then smirked, as though to say 'touche'.

"Alright you two, you can continue this adorable little flirt-fest once we get to the Ramen Don. I'm starving." Eri clapped her hands unceremoniously behind them, her voice dripping with sarcasm. Shiki giggled, as did Josh, and Neku rolled his eyes again, starting his tally back up. That made two eye-rolls so far, and undoubtedly plenty more to come.

"Of course you're starving, look at you. You're almost as bad as Neku." Shiki poked Eri in the ribcage, and she yelped, immediately poking the girl back, and Mr. Mew for good measure. "No! Leave him out of this!" Shiki squealed, dashing off, with Eri giving chase. Josh stood up from the bed, watching as the two vanished around a corner. He shook his head, and Neku thought he saw traces of a genuine smile on his face.

"Girls..." He sighed. Neku snorted, and elbowed the boy in the side.

"Like you're one to talk!" He laughed, and Josh scowled, his smile becoming a pout. "Let's go, before we lose the girls." Neku made his way toward the door, and the eye-roll count went up to three as Joshua walked leisurely after him, taking his time with each step. "Come on, I'll race you." Neku smirked, and Josh's eyes widened with surprise for a second as the boy took off.

"Burn any more calories and there won't be anything left!" Josh called. Neku looked back to see the boy jogging behind him, a competitive grin on his face.

"I've seen corpses run faster than you," Neku sneered.

"Hardy har har!"

"Come on you two, hurry up!" Shiki's voice echoed from up ahead, and Neku picked up the pace.

"Slow down! You know I don't do sweating!" Josh yowled from behind, but Neku only laughed.

He didn't need the supernatural and the paranormal. It was the little things, like racing with his friends and joking around like idiots, that made life worth living.

"Too slow!" A set of hands pushed down on his head, and Neku stumbled, cursing loudly as a set of white wings flapped over him. Josh grinned back at him as he turned the corner, doing a clumsy roll in the air and almost crashing into the wall. Neku wasn't sure whether to be mad or just laugh.

"That's cheating!" He picked himself back up and took after him, muttering under his breath about clipping those wings.

No, he didn't _need_ the supernatural... But hey, it definitely made things more interesting.

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

* * *

******This was more of a "for fun" drabble, not trying to strike anything intense or deep or meaningful. Just a moment in their lives. I'll try and get back to it and spruce up the conversational details and shtuff a bit more...  
**

******I'd say I'm sorry about Eri teasing Neku and Josh and being a Shipper on Deck... But I'm really not ;3  
**


	11. Tin Pin

**Here's a cute, random little drabble about Joshua in Another Day. I guess spoilers for AD? Any way, I just think it's adorkable that the reason Joshua took so long to get back was because he was distracted by playing Tin Pin x3**

* * *

**Theme:** _"Tin Pin"_

**Character: **_Joshua_

* * *

Joshua lets out a victory shout as the Other Joshua's (or Pink, or Rainbow, or whatever nickname he wants to go by today) pin goes flying off of the field. His doppelganger pouts, scrambling to get it. There is indignation written all over his face, and the fires of determination are kicking up in his eyes: a resolve to win, no matter the cost... Any other day Joshua might have found this ridiculous, but hey, he's winning, so who is he to complain?

He's been in this other Shibuya for about a week now, playing Tin Pin and discussing colors of the rainbow and fighting over which is better, ramen or curry, and honestly, the only word he can think of to describe it is _fun._ It's all rather idiotic, he supposes, and in the grand scheme of things he's probably just wasting his time, but for one reason or another he just can't bring himself to care.

He should probably be focusing on getting back to Shibuya. Like, seriously. And he _is._ Really. On his list of priorities, it's right up there at the tippity top. You know, right next to "Finish this Round of Tin Pin". Because _damn_, this game is addicting.

But, you know, he's totally focused on the whole Shibuya thing. As soon as he finishes this round, he'll work on finding where _his_ Shibuya is (because there's no way in Hell he's contacting Mr. H and asking for a ride home, no siree, not after the whole Minamimoto fiasco).

And speaking of Minamimoto, that brings him right back to the whole beginning of this issue. The being in an alternate universe issue, anyway. Because he probably should have tried warping back awhile ago. He's just... Well, it's _tiring_ running around Shibuya and blasting things from the RG, and like he told Neku, he doesn't "do" sweating. And Neku made it through his first two weeks in one piece, so he'll probably last another. Minamimoto was the only thing keeping him from getting through week two safe and sound, but Joshua's pretty sure he blew himself up with that whole "Level _i_ Flare" debacle. Then again, Sho has a tendency to stick around no matter how many stupid, unlife-threatening stunts he pulls- he's like a cockroach in that manner, he just doesn't die. Still, even if he survived, he's probably pretty weakened, and even if he isn't, Neku's learned the ropes of the Games fairly well by now. Joshua has enough faith in his choice of proxies that he's not so scared he can't sit through another round of Tin Pin... Or two.

Because come on, how many chances does he get to just sit back and derp around with kids his age? Yeah, they're kind of weird and annoying, and the Neku here is pretty Tin Pin obsessed- the people here are like parodies of the people in his own plane of existence, it seems, but he finds it more amusing than anything - but Josh is _tired._ Getting blasted into another freaking plane of existence really takes a lot out of you, and honestly, he doesn't mind the break. Plus, how often is it that you get to play yourself- like literally, play against a living breathing copy of yourself -at Tin Pin? Even with his powers, he could never really pull off that sort of thing back in his Shibuya. And the awesome part is, this version of himself is only mildly surprised by his presence- he's a bit of a perv, and a hopeless flirt with just about everything that moves, but he's good at Tin Pin, and Joshua appreciates a good challenge Everyone else was pretty weirded out when a second Yoshiya Kiryu appeared out of nowhere, but they all seem to have gotten used to it now (it's kind of shame, since he's going to have to leave soon... After he slams his alternate self's ass into the ground, that is). They ask a lot of questions, but nothing that he can't hand-wave away with a couple of snide remarks.

All that aside, Joshua understands where his responsibilities lie. Must finish what he's started, after all- he can't just leave everything up to Neku and Megs, no can he? No, he wants to see the finale of his Game to end all Games (besides, Mr. H will never let him hear the end of it when he finds out where he's been hiding out all this time). So he _will_ get back to Shibuya, and he _will_ finish his game... Just as soon as he finishes one more round of Tin Pin. Or two. Or three.

But really, who's counting?


	12. Bad Signal

**To make up for all the angst of late, here's a random (and dumb) drabble about Neku and Josh. :3 Inter-TWEWY, during Week Two.**

* * *

**Theme:** _Bad Signal_

**Characters: **_Neku, Joshua_

* * *

_X_

"Alright, let's get going." Neku came to a halt in the middle of the street. People were everywhere, walking by him and through him, completely unaware of his presence as they continued chattering amongst themselves. This was the par he hated the most... having to hear their thoughts while he scanned for Noise. TMI cranked up to eleven. Seriously, what was wrong with people? Did his thoughts sound this bizarre?

_Have people been listening to my thoughts?_ The thought made Neku shudder. The Game had been going on long enough, he supposed. Players had probably run into him time and time again, overheard his thoughts when scanning for Noise. This made him uncomfortable. He'd never thought about the shoe being on the other foot, having his own mind probed by complete strangers, whilst he was completely unaware... How violating.

"What pin did he say he wanted again," Josh asked with a sigh, flipping open his phone. "Something from Natural Puppy?" Neku looked over, shrugging. Reapers usually asked for stupid stuff.

"Happy Beam, I think. Come on, let's get ready. There's probably a lot of Noise around here." Neku pulled a few pins out of his pocket, sticking them on his collar and banishing thoughts of thought reading from his mind. Joshua was frowning.

"I can't get any bars here." he said, sounding concerned.

"Oh no." Neku replied, not sparing the sarcasm. Joshua shot him an "if looks could kill" sort of glare, then looked back at his phone, shaking it.

"Yes, oh no. I need this to fight." he grumbled, holding it up higher. His scowl deepened, and he got up on his tiptoes.

"It's not like you do much with it anyway..." Neku breathed. Joshua looked away from his screen, glaring at Neku.

"I'm sorry, did you say something, partner dearest?" he asked dryly. Neku shrugged, pulling his headphones back on.

"Nothing important."

"Right. Ug, why can't I get any bars?" Joshua tried to jump, but he didn't get very high. Neku was glad no one could see him. It was actually painful to watch. Josh sucked at pretty much everything physical. Neku still wondered how he'd wound up with _him _as a partner.

"We need to go somewhere higher." Josh said, looking at Neku expectantly.

"How? We have to beat the Noise to get past the walls, remember?" They couldn't complete there mission is they didn't get by the walls, but they couldn't do that without getting those stupid pins for the Wall Reapers. Why did they even _want _Natural Puppy pins any way? Just... Why? Neku sighed, shaking his head. "Look, Josh, I'll handle the Noise this round." _It's not like it'll make a difference if you help or not,_ he added silently. Joshua's eyes narrowed.

"Right. And I supposed I'm just going to sit there and get tossed around while you "handle it"? No thank you. I just need to get a little higher," Joshua demonstrated by raising his phone as high as it would go. Neku held his tongue. They were wasting time like this. Maybe he should just scan for Noise...

Joshua started walking toward Neku. "Wait. I think there's a signal over here." He walked past, then frowned, walking closer. "It's right around here."

"Hallelujah." Neku tossed his hands in the air, his voice deadpan. "Can we just get this mission done, Josh?"

"Patience, Neku. It's a virtue!" Josh clucked his tongue, standing on his tiptoes again and stretching his arms up.

"So I've been told." Neku rolled his eyes. He grabbed his own phone, flipping it open to check he time. They still had awhile before they had to complete the mission, but the faster they finished, the sooner Neku could relax. He didn't buy into Josh's philosophy about letting the other players handle the missions... if everyone had that mentality, they'd _all_ be erased. And if he got erased... That meant Shiki would be too. And there was no way in hell he was letting that happen. Thus, he would continue to put up with Josh's shit. Even if it drove him to the brink of insanity...

What happened next, Neku was not really prepared for. Even if Joshua had warned him before hand, he probably still couldn't have prepared himself.

Josh's weight crashed onto his back, nearly knocking him over. Neku stumbled forward, swearing loudly as he reached up to try and keep his headphones from falling.

"What the hell are you doing?" he cried, wincing as one of Joshua's shoes dug into his hip. "Ouch! Joshua! What the literal fuck?!"

"Stop moving around!" Joshua huffed, his voice muffled. Neku looked up. Josh had his phone in his mouth, and a very determined look on his face as he tried not to overbalance and fall.

Josh had one knee digging into his shoulder blade, and one hand planted on his head. Neku had half the mind to spin around or jump- do something to knock him off. The only reason he could think of for not doing so was that he really had no idea what Josh was trying to do.

"Three bars! Neku, step back a little." Josh cried, his knees knocking against Neku's head.

"Are you freaking kidding me?" Neku raged, shaking back and forth. Joshua's fingers dug into his hair, holding tight, and Neku winced. "Um, _ow?!_ Josh, get _off!_" Neku shouted. He really hoped there weren't any other Players around to see this. Or Reapers. Or anything, really.

Josh had managed to sling both legs over Neku's shoulders, and was now sitting up there, holding his phone high.

"Four bars! Neku, jump or something!" Josh said, looking down expectantly.

"Oh, I'll do something alright..." Neku growled, trying to lean forward without falling over.

"Five! I've got all five!" Josh shouted, victorious. "Alright, I'm ready whenever you are Neku."

"Ready for what, exactly?"

"To erase some Noise." Josh replied, the tiniest hint of exasperation in his voice. "Try and keep up, Neku."

"We are _not _fighting Noise like this, Joshua!" Neku snarled, struggling to keep his balance. Joshua huffed, and Neku could only assume he was crossing his arms and scowling.

"I thought you wanted to complete the mission?" he asked coyly.

_I want, to punch you in the face,_ Neku thought, gritting his teeth.

"We can't fight with you sitting on my shoulders."

"I can't get a signal any other way, Neku." Josh sighed, taking the tone of one lecturing a small child. Neku wondered if Joshua smashing his face on the asphalt would be enough to kill him, and how difficult it would be to get a new Partner within seven minutes. Sure it would be a hassle, but would it really be as horrible as putting up with Josh for the next few days? Neku weighed the pros and cons. "Come _on_ Neku, he clock is ticking."

"Not like you care." Neku grumbled. _Trust your partner,_ he reminded himself bitterly. Did this qualify as trust? Neku was pretty sure this was more along the lines of Joshua pushing his luck as far as it could possibly go, and then some. "You're lucky I can't get through the week without you in one piece." Neku called, tilting his head just enough to glare at Joshua. The boy smirked, patting his head.

"One of the many blessings I'm always sure to count." he replied pleasantly. "Now, let's go. My legs are starting to hurt."

"I swear to fucking _God-_" Neku seethed, shaking his head. Must trust Partner. Must not buck onto the concrete... Erasing your Partner was against the rules, but what about maiming them? Was that allowed?

"Tick tock, Neku." Josh tsk'd. Neku closed his eyes and pressed his hands over his ears, both to scan for Noise, and to block out Joshua's voice.

"This had better not become a habit," Neku warned. Josh giggled gratingly.

"Of course not, Partner. Wouldn't dream of it."

_X_

* * *

**Inspired by some cute pic I found of Josh sitting on Neku's shoulders, trying to find a signal. I like to think he needs bars on his phone to use it in battle. No clue how they would fight like that- they fight in separate planes anyway, right? So it probably wouldn't matter in the end, they'd still get separate- Josh just needed some bars before he could start~ also, I know that technicaly, josh is playing from the RG, right? So he probably wouldn't be able to touch Neku. But he's magical Composer boy, so I think he could maybe just... alter his vibe ever so slightly, so that he could interact physically with beings in the UG? Not for a very long amount of time, because it would take a lot of energy and focus and he might lose control and zone back into the UG, full-on Composer form- but just long enough to harass Neku, or make him think that he's in the UG, depending on what time this takes place. Also, IDK what day this would be. Just some random point where they're trying to get past the walls. Neku doesn't think Josh killed him yet, so I guess it's during the first couple days :P**


End file.
